Cacophonia
by hypaalicious
Summary: Four years have passed since the megalomaniacal sorceress Ultimecia has been defeated, but the world is teetering on unrest that could undo the delicate balance of peace that shelters them all. sequel to Severed Reality
1. Prologue

A bar stood near a desolate edge of Balamb. It looked somewhat of a lonely place, not really all that well visited by a large number of the town's inhabitants. Balamb was always known as a quiet residential seaside area where many families chose as a wholesome place to raise their children, so even though the town itself did not have a curfew, it basically shut down sometime after 9pm. The bar, while looking vaguely dim and weathered, was regularly frequented by random travelers passing by, or people wanting to drown their sorrows away at the bottom of a glass.

The bartender dried a couple of freshly washed mugs and lined them up carefully on the surface behind him, taking a moment to survey his reflection in the hazy surface of the mirror that backed the entirety of the shelf. _Things have changed, that's for sure. _ It had been years since he served in the Galbadian Army, yet sometimes it felt as if very little time had passed at all. The last, and arguably the greatest, Sorceress War was behind them all, and the land enjoyed the longest period of peace it has ever known. _Now, if only it just __felt__ right._

It didn't mean that he wanted for war to tear the world apart again, but the calm seemed _off_. At first he just summed it up to the fact that people were so used to being on edge for something or another that it would take them awhile to unwind and really relax. But recently, he thought that something else, something sinister, was lurking in the shadows waiting for the right time to strike. Of course, he couldn't justify his feelings with concrete evidence, but he also refused to shake it off like a mere paranoia episode. No matter how many days, weeks, months, or even years went by, he was waiting for something to jump up and tear the facade of peace away like the pristine white tablecloth that it was and reveal the rotted corpse of truth. _Maybe it's just me. At least, that's what I'm hoping._

"Biggs! Hit me up with another one, will ya?" Snapped out of his own thoughts by one of his regulars, he got right on to making a Torama and passed it down to the waiting hand on the other side of the bar. As he did this, he noticed a table full of SeeDs from Balamb Garden and had to fight to hold back a sneer. Perhaps his distaste for the world-renowned mercenaries was ingrained too deep to erase completely, especially since it was their fault all those years ago that he got demoted, and now he blamed them for the reason why the once great Galbadian Army is merely the shadow of its former self. A part of him, the rational part, knew that the real reason for the army's decay was because of its past affiliation with Vinzer Deling. Although deceased and his short-term affiliations with the sorceress with it, it was he that gave the order to Galbadian troops to back the sorceress at all costs, thus sealing their fate. Despite the fact that the new president of the city was Nathaniel P. Caraway, ex-general of the army itself, the people accepted him for two main reasons. One, he was revered as being a strong leader and was a long-term resident and beneficiary of Deling City. Two, he renounced his ties to the army shortly after setting into motion a plan to sabotage the sorceress. The plan itself failed, but the effort was commendable enough. Especially since it was also found out that the group he hired to carry out the plan was none other than the SeeDs who later went on to save the world. It was enough to send anyone's presidential campaign through the roof.

Biggs had always considered SeeDs to be kids who were too pussy to do the honorable thing and join the army like real soldiers, yet still wanted the taste of glory reserved for those who rightly deserved it. They always put their noses into situations that were too big for them to comprehend, yet still came off as the neighborhood heroes. _How cute._ Even he had to admit that to get rid of an all-powerful sorceress, from the future no less, had to take a helluva lot of balls and luck to accomplish. But that didn't mean that the new influx of SeeD recruits deserved any of the credit, and helped justify Biggs' bitterness towards them. They were always treated so special by the civilians, so the wanna-be warriors flaunted their status and their Garden's colors even in the face of people like him, who knew how tough a real battlefield could be. He reckoned that not even half of the kids he saw sneaking into his bar would even survive half a minute if the time came for them to be dragged into something their puny training couldn't have prepared them for.

Lately, there had been word on the street that the three different Gardens were formulating rivalries amongst each other, probably spawned by the fact that there were now too many SeeDs and not enough to do except to see whose proverbial dick was bigger. Sometimes, that's all it was; bad mouthing or pranks that sometimes got out of hand. Other times, people got hurt, although the media, still intent on keeping SeeDs in a more favorable limelight, conveniently muffled the extent of how bad the situation was becoming. All of it disgusted Biggs, and he found himself wondering what was more aggravating: the fact that the people were too busy having their lips firmly planted on SeeD's asses to see that they were slowly becoming no more than rival gangs with badges, or that he couldn't do a damn thing about it. There had been a time where he believed that there was not a situation that the Galbadian Army couldn't fix, but they were still busy licking their wounds. He was certain that causing a disturbance against SeeDs, no matter how justified, wouldn't go over well at all.

Looking back out into the smoky area, he noticed that the table of SeeDs had gotten up and left.

* * *

"Dude, did you see that one chick looking at me? Was she hot or what?" A recently graduated SeeD proclaimed to his friends, slightly wavering on his feet.

"Yeah, and she's probably ten years older than you, too." One of them replied dryly, unamused. He was the oldest of the four that were out way past their garden's curfew, and was most probably the only one out of them all that was feeling increasingly uneasy about it. He was a handsome young man in his early twenties, his jet-black hair falling neatly to his chin and framed mahogany almond-shaped eyes. He didn't want to be out, and especially not at a seedy bar of all places, but he found himself out with them if only to keep them out of trouble. He didn't know how he was supposed to do that, but he hoped that by his presence alone he would curb undesirable behavior. He knew that they looked up to him, and even though they were so hyped up about getting him to do something "fun" at last, they still wanted his approval.

The previous SeeD rolled his eyes and made a face, made all the more comical by the shock of curly red hair that littered his head haphazardly. "Hyne, loosen UP, Nida! You've been stiff as a board all night. Man, you just need to get laid... maybe we can hook you up with that hottie in there..."

"I don't think so." Nida ignored the titters and the goading that followed that comment and started to quicken his pace down the street. "Let's just get back to Garden, okay? Trest, Rados; make yourselves useful and make sure that Dustin doesn't fall on his face on the way back." The people in question grumbled a bit at being ordered around after a night out, but they agreed that Dustin wasn't really at his best under the influence and stationed themselves on either side of their friend to make sure that he stayed at least in a straight line.

They hadn't really gone far before a voice rang out of the darkness. "Aw, someone got a little fucked tonight, didn't they?"

The four SeeDs stopped abruptly and squinted around, trying to decipher who had said it. The three sober guys snapped to attention and trained their senses to more thoroughly scan the area without looking too startled, which would certainly give whoever it was an upper hand. While doing this, they almost completely managed to forget that they had an obvious handicap of a drunk on their hands, who recklessly shouted out, "WHAT, YOU GONNA SAY IT TO MY FACE OR ARE YOU GONNA HIDE LIKE THE WIMP YOU ARE?"

Nida resisted the urge to facepalm. _This is not the time to be exasperated with this foolishness._ "C'mon, just ignore it." But his apprehension level rose a couple of notches when the perpetrator emerged from a small alley to their right along with two others, still partly shrouded by the stark shadows that the full moon above them generated in the night. Nida's trained eyes caught the tale-tell colors of a SeeD uniform from Galbadia Garden, and he barely held back a wince. _This is not good._ If for some reason he was here by himself, he might have been able to slip by since he was one of the few SeeDs left that preferred to save their uniforms for missions or other special occasions. But with his friends who were following the new trend of wearing their uniforms whenever they went out, they were immediately being targeted for who they were.

"I would say it to your face, but I don't want to get that close to it." One of the shadowed figures continued. No one could see his face, but one could hear the smirk in his tone. "Not to mention your breath probably smells just as bad."

Dustin opened his mouth to shoot back a nasty reply, but Nida beat him to it. "Look, we don't want trouble. Our friend is drunk, as you can see, and probably won't remember any of this in the morning. We just want to get back quietly."

"Oh, I'm sure. Leave it to the Balambs to be the goody goodies. If you really didn't want trouble, you wouldn't even be out here right now, so don't feed us your high and mighty bullshit."

"Oh, shove it!" Dustin managed to get out this time. "You're just pissed because no matter how much you do, Balamb's still gonna be better than you! You were fuck-ups before, and you're still fuck-ups now!"

"Dude, shut UP!" Rados hissed. "We didn't come out here for this, not tonight. If you want to, we can settle this tomorrow when you're less wasted, but we can't cover for your ass right now!"

The Galbadian figure tsked. "You want to say that again? If you can remember straight, that is."

Dustin's face turned almost the same color as his hair and he shook off the helping arms of his friends. Drunk or not, he wasn't going to just stand there and take shit from a SeeD from a Garden that was below the greatness of Balamb. He rolled up his sleeves and started over to the heckling group, prepared to punch all of them to oblivion as long as he had breath in his lungs. He already told himself that he wasn't doing it just because they had pissed him off, but more because they were spitting on his Garden's honor. And if nobody else would stand up to that, then he'd have to be the one to do it.

"WATCH OUT!"

The redhead barely had enough time to process that warning when he was thrown violently to the side. His reflexes dulled by the liquor he consumed, he wasn't even able to cushion his fall into a roll like he'd been taught, and he crashed ungracefully on the cobblestone street below him. He had heard something else during all of this, but it was hard to decipher what exactly was going on when his head felt like it was spinning like a top. Propping himself up on his elbows painfully, he blinked rapidly to clear his vision some and wiped his face with the back of his hand. He didn't realize he was sweating THAT much. But when he took a closer look at his hand, he realized that if it was just perspiration that was the problem, then it wouldn't have a sticky residue and shine ominously red in the moonlight. Panicking, Dustin frantically wiped off the blood on his shirt and started checking himself for injuries.

"STOP FUCKING AROUND AND GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!" Trest's voice shot out towards him. It wasn't often that Trest yelled or was anything other than nice, so Dustin knew something was up. Glancing quickly towards the alleyway while scrambling awkwardly to his feet, he noticed that the Galbadian SeeDs had disappeared as if they had never been there. Not allowing himself time to wonder where they ran off to, he made his way over to his other friends who were kneeling over a figure. Dread seeped into his bones and sobered him up faster than a cold shower as he got closer and looked down and identified the body.

"Wh-what happened?" Dustin stuttered, half afraid of the reply.

Revos shot him a fierce glare, fueled by the panic that was rising in his own chest. "One of those bastards had a gun. Nida saw it first and knew what they were planning to do, so he pushed you out of the way. But now..."

He didn't even have to continue. Dustin immediately realized that the blood that was spotting his face wasn't his own, and he stared catatonically at the bullet hole marking the side of Nida's head, still gushing out dangerous amounts of blood onto the street. "Hyne... oh, shit. Oh shit..."

Trest looked over to Revos. "I don't know how, but he still has a pulse. It's weak as hell, though. We gotta team up and carry him back to Balamb Garden as fast as we can."

"Screw that. I have my cell; I'm calling an emergency transport." Catching the wide-eyed look Dustin shot him, Revos delivered his own incredulous look. "You can't possibly be worried about getting busted for being out after curfew right now. We can't waste time. If Nida doesn't pull through, then docked pay and possible suspension will be the least of our worries." With that, he flipped open his phone and dialed.

Dustin processed this all through a slow haze, one that wasn't even induced by the alcohol that was still in his system. The only thing that was moving along clearly for him was the slight breeze that moved a few strands of black hair across Nida's paling forehead. Even though he knew that his friends wouldn't sell him out, it was bad enough that his own conscious would eat at him for the rest of his life, especially if Nida died. _No, don't think of that. Nida always pulls through. He's the one that takes care of us. _ Who knew that a guy's night out at the bar would turn out so horribly wrong? He looked up to the sky, barely registering the sound of the transport arriving, casting red and blue hazard lights flashing over them all. _What have I done?_


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Because I neglected to say this before, this is a sequel to the story 'Severed Reality'. I will say that it's somewhat possible to get through this story without reading its predecessor and not become too horribly confused, but it'd make even more sense if you read the fic that started it all, anyway. It's only 57 chapters long. -ducks a brick-

For those who already know that; yes, I got started on this pretty fast, considering. This fiction will be more of a mystery, in contrast to how relatively lighthearted Severed Reality was.

And this will NOT take me 5 years to finish. I swear to god, I would rather shoot myself.

* * *

Dr. Kadowaki walked with a purpose through the hallways of Balamb Garden. A rather heavy-set woman in her very late forties, she was a savior to the infirmaries of the Garden. She was partly a counselor to the SeeDs that ended up in her office for injuries ranging from training mishaps to rolled ankles, since she exhibited the motherly attention that she felt that all kids needed, no matter how old or self-sufficient they appeared to be. A kid, in her book, was anyone younger than her, which basically meant that nobody was free from the watchful eye of Kadowaki.

Because of her reputation as being the best doctor at Balamb and arguably one of the best on the continent, it was very rare that she was seen outside of her office or the Infirmary. She busied herself constantly, training new adepts and still managing to be an active force in her patients' lives. It was where she felt most comfortable, helping to mend the aches and pains of physical wounds while trying to solve any emotional problems that were frequent in young people that could be behind most of the injuries she encountered. But for the first time in a very long time, Dr. Kadowaki found herself driven by a force that nearly threatened to burst forth from her chest, and she couldn't sit down idly.

She ignored the odd and shocked looks that random students were giving her, knowing she had no time to be distracted. She approached the elevator in the center of the institution and walked in without a pause as the doors slid open and deposited a couple of cadets to the first floor lobby. Mashing the relatively unused button that would let her off on the 3rd floor, the doctor felt like it was taking longer than usual for it to get there. _Ah, you're just working yourself up into a fuss. It'll get there when it does._

Nevertheless, she let out a grateful sigh and marched herself down to the double mahogany doors that would grant her passage to the headmaster's office and was in the middle of reaching for one of the doorknobs when an arm reached out to block her progress. Looking up to the person who was denying her with a scrutinizing gaze, she inwardly smirked when the young man swallowed uncertainly in response.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I'm afraid that the Headmaster isn't accepting walk-ins at the moment."

"Well, he's just gonna have to be dealing this one whether he's 'accepting' it or not." Dr. Kadowaki moved her gray eyes back down to the hand that was still in front of her. "Didn't I fix up your sprained finger last week? Why aren't you wearing that brace I gave you?"

The SeeD coughed and withdrew his hand quickly. "Ah, well... it was feeling a lot better, Dr. Kadowaki, so I figured-"

"So you figured you were too cool to be seen with your finger in a brace, I got it." She finished, shutting him up. "Well, tell you what. You can go ahead and do what you want to do, but if I see you in my office with that same finger sticking out from your hand at some odd angle again, I'll GLUE that brace in place, ya hear?"

Looking completely admonished and quite pitiful, the young man nodded solemnly. "Yes, Dr. Kadowaki."

Feeling pleased with herself, she turned back to the door in front of her. "Good. Now, if you'll excuse me..." She slipped inside before the SeeD could get back to remembering why he stopped her in the first place.

Once inside, the doctor took a deep breath and tried to settle her nerves. It had been a long time since she had stepped foot into the headmaster's office; in fact, she couldn't exactly remember the last time she did. There weren't many reasons to actually be there, most of the time, and she greatly preferred leaving all of the heavy-duty politics to the people who were trained to handle them. All she did was take care of injured SeeDs, a job that she did very well. But now, Kadowaki wanted to take a step she felt no one else would, and she'd hope the headmaster would listen.

Something moved out of the corner of her eye, and the doctor watched as an orange moomba struggled with a stack of files, books, and random papers before placing them unceremoniously on the edge of the desk that was almost too high for him to reach. Plopping down on the ground with the effort, the furry secretary took notice of the new occupant to the room and made a noise of surprise.

"Thank you, Ravi. If it wasn't for you these days, I don't know how I'd have my office in order." A hand reached out from the chair that was turned away from the doorway and ruffled the top of the moomba's head.

Losing some of her fire at the unexpected tenderness of the scene in front of her, Dr. Kadowaki settled for clearing her throat.

Starting at the sound, Headmaster Cid Kramer turned his chair around towards the front. He tried to look pleasantly surprised at the appearance of his unexpected guest, but one could see the weariness in his eyes that was accentuated by the strands of gray that streaked his brown hair. "Doctor, what brings you here? Please excuse the slight disarray; I haven't had much time to be a housekeeper, and Ravi can only do so much."

The doctor straightened the ends of her long white overcoat. "Last night, there was an ambulance called to the town of Balamb to see to a group of four of our SeeDs who were out long after curfew. Evidently, a group from Galbadia Garden ambushed them after they exited a bar. A shot was fired, leaving one dangerously injured."

Cid sighed. "Unfortunately, this isn't old news. Things like that are happening all over, and as disheartening as it is to see all of this come to pass, we have got to roll with the punches as best we-"

"The one in critical condition is Nida."

The headmaster stopped and closed his eyes. He never imagined that Nida would be caught up in that mess. A lot of questions ran through his mind at that point, ranging from the identity of the person who fired the shot to wondering why Nida had gone against his better judgment as a SeeD veteran. After a moment's silence, he settled on asking the most reasonable question. "How is he?"

Dr. Kadowaki pursed her lips. "Well, seeing as though he's in IC, not good at all. Despite the efforts of his friends that got him here as quickly as possible, the shot did do extensive damage to his brain. We did what we could to remove the bullet and cast a healing spell over the wound to help staunch the bleeding, but he's going to need a surgery that we cannot perform here due to the seriousness of his condition. We know the bullet did not make a clean exit; therefore his brain tissue has suffered lacerations and cavitation. The most we could do is give him a Phoenix Pinion shot to jumpstart his body, but if nothing else is done then I fear that we could lose him."

Cid took a deep breath and let it out slowly, concentrating on his lungs deflating rather than get lost in the depression that was quickly settling over him. "And you came here to tell me this?"

She shifted. "Yes. In hopes that you'll do something about it."

"Linda, I'm not a surgeon."

"You know what I mean! Cid, this can't continue! I don't have the faintest clue as to what's come over these kids, but all I know is that this has gone far enough. Do you remember how this started? If you don't, I'll refresh your memory. There were kids coming into my office angry because some other SeeD from another Garden - Trabia or Galbadia, take your pick - said something that they didn't like. At first, all we had to worry about is hurt pride. That's easy enough to fix. Then, the fights started. SeeDs came back injured. I can mend broken legs, I can place tinctures on minor wounds, all while giving them the lecture they've been deserving about keeping their heads on straight. Then someone like Nida shows up half-alive, and I've decided enough is enough." Dr. Kadowaki paused for a moment to reign in her emotions. "If this was merely a medical case, then no matter how serious the injury, I'd dedicate my life to fixing it, be damned if I fail. But it's not that simple."

The headmaster tilted his eyes downward, examining the desk in front of him. "I'm trying. As much as it doesn't look like it, I am. I don't like this any more than you do. You don't think I've noticed this downward spiral SeeDs around the world have taken? Oh yes, I have, and as sad as it is to hear about Nida I will have you know that we are severely lucky compared to what's been happening at Galbadia and Trabia. I've tried contacting the headmasters of both Gardens myself, only to get put through hoops just to end up back where I've started. They must know what's going on, and either they're unwilling to find a solution or they're just as stuck as I am and have considered the entire situation out of their hands. I don't know what else to do."

After saying her piece, Kadawaki felt extremely guilty. Cid was trying, and here she was, storming into his office like some kind of makeshift revolutionary. Hadn't she always said to leave the big things to the big people? "I apologize. I... I shouldn't have..."

Cid waved it off and offered a sad smile. "I understand. It's hard on both of us. Soon, it'll be hard on the world that tries its best to ignore what's going on, and when that happens... I've been trying not to think of that. The only thing we can do is hope and pray that this is a phase that will blow over before it gets any worse." He started rearranging some things on his desk. "You should go back down to check on Nida and whomever else needs medical attention; I'm sure someone else can do it, but not as well as you. I will go through my mess of files here and find Nida's home phone number and do the gruesome deed of notifying his parents of his condition."

Dr. Kadawaki nodded silently and left the office, leaving Cid alone once again save his furry companion.

Ravi made a concerned noise and put one paw on the headmaster's knee.

_A time of peace... somehow, this makes the Sorceress Wars pale in comparison. _Cid paused in retrieving Nida's file and got lost in his thoughts, a habit that was getting worse and worse by the day. In truth, he felt as if all of what was happening was his fault. He and his wife Edea created SeeD in preparation to defeat Ultimecia, a fact that he hid from all SeeDs up until the point when he could no longer disguise its purpose. How could he have said anything in the beginning? It was hard enough to believe as it was, and if things didn't come to a head as they did then Cid was certain nobody would have entertained it. It was much easier to train young people to do odd jobs settling disputes around the globe rather than to lay on them a heavy destiny that he wasn't sure would even truly come to pass. How do you train to defeat a hypothetical sorceress?

Now, with the world's greatest threat behind them all, he was also beating himself up over the fact that the age of SeeD has come to an end, and it took him too long to completely realize it. He and Edea never came up with a plan for the event in which there would be no more serious threats in society to warrant SeeD existence to a minimum. After the last war, he and Edea rebuilt the orphanage that had fallen to ruin over the years and let her regain the life she lost when Ultimecia took control. Cid looked in on her as often as he could, but the frequency of his visits slowed due to his responsibilities at Garden. He had Squall to help him take off part of the load, but the headmaster knew that the commander had done enough and still tried to handle the brunt of everything himself.

_Squall..._ There was another twinge of guilt settling in his chest. He had watched him grow up from the boy he was into the young man that he eventually became, and in the heat of battle managed to shove on him a responsibility that not just any person would have been able to handle. Cid had never felt completely right about doing that, despite not exactly having a lot of options left to choose from at the time. Maybe it was because he worked so hard as headmaster so as to help give Squall the break that he needed ever since arriving at Garden and becoming one of the best SeeDs they had to offer. He was running off of guilt, a thing he knew never really did anyone any good, but he wanted to do something in the place of doing what he certainly could not - give Squall and the others the normal life they never had.

Turning his chair around from his desk to look at the large picture window that he had been gazing out of prior to Dr. Kadowaki's arrival, he studied the large tufts of clouds that floated idly by, streaked by the occasional bird that soared high amongst them. Maybe it all really WAS his fault. He helped create SeeD, and he should be the one to destroy it. But he didn't know how, and his pride wouldn't let him destroy something that had not only served its ultimate purpose, but also helped keep peace in society and gave a purpose to lots of young men and women that perhaps would not have ordinarily found a meaning to life. He couldn't simply tell them to go home; many of them didn't have homes to back to since they were all that survived after the more gruesome Sorceress Wars. However, now they were on their way down a road that was shadowed and grim, and the headmaster feared the outcome. It would be ridiculous to say that rivalries never existed between the Gardens before, but back then it was merely friendly competition. Now it seemed like the competition suffered a deadly spike that caused people like Nida to fall victim to its claim. Kadowaki was right; he had to do something about it.

Ravi watched rather helplessly as the headmaster brooded for a long time, then snapped to attention when a decisive light shone in his eyes and he turned his chair back towards his desk and picked up the phone.

Moments after the call had been made, Xu Brighett arrived at Cid's office, her eyes attempting to hide the curiosity that still showed in her face. She was a slim girl of medium height, her brown hair framing her petite face in a way that made her look younger than what she actually was. She immediately took notice of Ravi and smiled at him before regaining a more professional attitude and posture, straightening her back and clasping her hands respectfully behind her. "You wanted to see me, sir?"

Cid took a moment to look her over unobtrusively, inwardly going over the implications of what he was going to do and if it was really what he wanted. He couldn't make any more mistakes in his life, and even though it was going to be one of the biggest risks he ever considered taking, he knew that desperate times called for desperate measures. Blinking out of his thoughts, he realized that the SeeD he called was standing politely before him and had been there for at least a couple of minutes. _I have got to stop lapsing like this. People might really start to wonder what's become of me if I don't._ "Yes, Xu. Thank you for coming at such a short notice." The headmaster stood up and grabbed a ring of keys off of his desk. "I'd like for you to come with me, if you will."

Xu followed her headmaster out of his office back down the hallway that led to the elevator she had used to arrive there. Once they entered, Cid went through a number of keys on the ring he retrieved before settling on a rather weathered looking one, in which he stuck in a slot under the panel where the buttons were. As he did so, the doors closed and the elevator descended, and Xu was surprised to realize that they did not stop at the first floor and went BELOW it to the basement MD levels. She knew they existed; she was around when Squall and the others explored the level to transform Balamb Garden into a mobile base, but she had never been down there herself. She began to wonder what it was that Cid wanted her along to see, but she held all of her questions inside, leaving it to the fact that she would find out eventually.

When the elevator released them at their destination, they walked for a little bit longer through the rusted walkways of the lower levels. Their footsteps echoed emptily through the metal surroundings, accentuating the desolate and unused condition everything was in. Dim lights dotted along the walls and the pathways offered the only light available, leaving the rest outside of light's reach plunged into unknowable darkness. Xu shivered slightly, not knowing why she was apprehensive. She'd certainly gotten over her fear of darkness long ago, and the headmaster seemed to know where he was going.

After long, they reached a doorway at the end of a circular hallway that housed one of the generators that supplied power to all of Garden. Cid paused at the keypad that was somehow too new to be down there along with everything else that was in various states of decay and punched in a code that unlocked the metal doors with a faint screech. Stepping inside cautiously, Xu absentmindedly smoothed out her pleated skirt and tried to gauge her surroundings. The room certainly was large, and there was something in the middle of it, but without more light she couldn't exactly make out what it was. She glanced over to Cid, who had walked over to the side and was fiddling with something behind a small counter.

"... umm... Sir? With all due respect..."

"Just a moment, Xu. Let me get the lights working here. Ah, there we go."

Blinking as powerful halogen lights flooded the room, she waited until her hazel eyes got used to the unexpected change before she focused on exactly what it was that Cid had led her down there to see. In the very center of the room was some sort of metallic mechanism that formed a unique kind of archway, hooked up to several smaller generators by a massive tangle of multicolored cables that twined this way and that, making the floor look like a multitude of snakes. She had never seen anything like it, and even though she wasn't exactly sure what it was supposed to do, it was of excellent quality. She turned her head to the side as she heard footsteps move beside her and pause, watching as her headmaster examined the contraption with just as much awe as Xu herself.

"I have a very special mission for you, Xu." Cid began, not taking his eyes off of the machinery. "One that requires no pretense or preparation, except the main fact that you must trust me. What I am going to show you offers no rational explanation and will certainly bring to mind lots of questions that I will not be able to answer before you accept. I will promise to explain everything later, if this mission is a success. If you think you will not be able to handle it, it will have no negative bearing of my views of you as a capable SeeD. Do you accept?"

Xu took a minute to comprehend this very cryptic mission that she was being offered. She had no clue as to what she would be doing, and why it would only be her attempting it. SeeDs, at the very least, undertook missions in pairs to ensure the safety of the mission and in the event of a failure that one of them would be able to report back to base. However, above all else, she did trust her headmaster. For whatever reason that he entrusted her with this task, she would accomplish it to the best of her ability. "I accept."

Cid smiled, a strange one that was both relief and sadness all at once. "I thank you." He began walking slowly around the machine in front of him. "As you know, there has been a period of unrest that has been affecting Gardens around the globe. SeeDs are using skills that they were trained to use in the event of a particular mission on each other, driven by some unquenchable desire to be the best over everyone else. Egos are running dangerously high, and as a result, people are getting hurt. Right now, it's only the SeeDs that have started this catastrophe that suffer... but I fear for the day when a civilian gets caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. SeeD is known as world-wide heroes after the defeat of Ultimecia four years ago, and as much as it has been an incredible honor receive the world's never ending thanks, it has also come at the price that we have taken it for granted. I want to put an end to this, but even as headmaster I am a slave to the desires and actions of the students of my Garden, and before I realized it had become something that is bigger than what I can handle."

Xu waited patiently as Cid paused in his speech, still circling the unexplained contraption. "In an effort to try to uncover what could have possibly triggered such behavior, I sent out a team that I knew I could trust to look for any possible clues to this disturbance. Somehow, I refuse to believe that this moral decline is a natural occurrence. I had hoped upon the return of the team that I would have more answers as to why this is happening, but alas... it has been months since I deployed them, and I have had no contact with them since."

The young woman sucked in a breath, putting pieces together in her mind. "Sir, was this group..."

"Comprised of Squall Leonhart, Selphie Tilmitt, and Zell Dincht? Yes, it was. They were the only ones I knew I could trust to not get caught up in whatever had taken over everyone else, along with doing an exceptional job of it. I was somewhat content to wait for their return despite it taking so long for them to report, until the current hospitalization of Nida made me realize that I cannot tarry any longer. Which brings me to my 'wild card' I was hesitant to bring into play, at least in this manner."

Figuring the wild card was a reference to the machine in front of her, she waited until her headmaster had made a complete circle around it before coming back to his place beside her. "This is a highly experimental piece of technology that was conceived by Dr. Odine of Esthar. It is a secret that isn't known of outside of him and I, even to the Estharian president himself. To be honest, I am not even sure if it's completed, since test runs of this caliber aren't exactly prohibited. It requires a massive amount of power to operate, which I believe the back-up generators this Garden has will be able to give us. Just pray that we don't experience a black-out any time soon, since that would be a handful to explain away."

Xu couldn't help herself. "But... why?"

Cid smiled ruefully and made his way back to the counter he first approached when they stepped into the room. "This is where the fun part starts." Flicking a few switches and adjusting a couple of levers, he pushed a small red button and prayed that something other than a humongous failure awaited him.

A low whirring sound picked up slowly, and as the large amounts of power were drained from the generators the halogen lights that once lit the room flickered dangerously for a couple of seconds before going out. The two inhabitants of the room were plunged into darkness as faint sparks of electricity began dancing around the sides of the archway of the machine. Eventually, the sparks crackled together sharply to create an explosion that sent an unexpected gust of wind rushing out along with a flash of light, blowing Xu's hair off of her forehead. Shielding her face, she waited until the air settled around her and she chanced looking up at what had happened.

"What..." Xu gaped at what was before her. Settled right in the gap of the archway was some sort of shimmery surface that looked much like a cloud suspended in midair. Not quite so sure if she wanted to get closer, she settled for squinting from her position and saw that many different colors shook in waves from the very center of the cloud to spread outward, as if it was both liquid and gaseous at the same time. She had never seen anything like it in her entire life, and she wondered if this was supposed to happen at all.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Headmaster Cid came back from his place from behind the counter to stand beside the shocked SeeD once more. "It's okay to gawk; I did the same thing when I saw it for the first time."

Xu turned to look at him, the confusion unmasked on her face. _What does he mean, the first time? What's going on?_ Before she could formulate another question, she was handed a small file. Momentarily distracted, she opened the manila folder and fished through its very sparse contents before coming across something that made her gasp. "Sir... these people..."

"Yes, I'm sure you remember them, Xu. They were, in my opinion, quite an unforgettable pair." He gazed at the swirl of colors in front of him, almost nostalgically mesmerized. "A lot of time has passed. I hope they are still there."

Xu could do nothing but look at the file, then at the portal, then at her headmaster. She was beginning to understand what she was going to be asked to do, but it still didn't make any sort of sense to her. She wanted so badly to ask as many questions as it would take for everything to make sense, but she was told in the beginning that she shouldn't ask any questions and to trust him... so she would just have to deal with the unsolved mysteries rattling around in her brain as best she could. Cid cleared his throat before turning directly to face her, his eyes resolved yet pleading at the same time.

"Your mission is to cross that portal, Xu, and find these people if you can. They will... not be expecting you, to say the least. But they will be needed, in a worst-case scenario, to save this world once again from impending doom. Bring them back here as soon as possible, directly to my office. Once that is done... I'll be able to explain things a bit clearer to all of you."


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Sorry for the obvious delay; I haven't died. I just got preoccupied with gaming (Final Fantasy XII) and life for a bit, lol! I'll be answering any reviews I get on this story by using that nifty reply feature on the comment page. The only time I won't is if someone comments anonymously or forgets to sign in and I have no choice but to answer them in the next uploaded chapter. Now the only thing you'll have to worry about getting in the way of each chapter is my frequent author's notes of doom. Like this one. :D

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Passing by a tall, blue asymmetrical archway stationed in the center of a rather wide stretch of pavement, a handful of students made their way to class lazily. They were very much involved in their conversation, taking no lingering notice of a girl who was standing somewhat awkwardly nearby. Other students came and went, many of them exiting a nearby building already heavily engrossed in a cell phone call to a friend or fiddling with a fancy portable mp3 player. The sun shone cheerfully overhead and a soft breeze blew, ruffling the leaves on the many trees and other green foliage that spotted the area.

Xu had no idea where she was. According to what Cid had told her prior to her walking through the portal, it was not a hostile environment and was identified to be a college campus. She wasn't quite sure what that meant, but the most she implied was the fact that people were educated in this particular place. She was also informed that for some reason, time would remain the same back at Garden while hypothetically an infinite amount of time could pass while active in her current location. Looking up to the sky, she estimated the time to be around noon, and she would have awhile before she was able to return to the portal. The headmaster would keep it running constantly in Garden's basement while he checked on it as frequently as he could without attracting too much attention, so as to provide Xu with the means of returning to her room for sleep or any materials that she might need. She could only see the portal clearly during the night, which helped keep the location hidden to any passerby along with it having manifested on the campus in an obscure location at the very rear of a large park-like area which she identified the name to be an "Arboretum".

Unfortunately, that left her just as much time to figure out what she was going to do with herself and work out some sort of plan to carry out her very impromptu mission.

Moving away from the entrance of the arboretum, Xu walked to an empty black bench positioned under a small tree in the center of the walkway and sat down. Glancing around in what she hoped was a casual enough manner, she retrieved the manila folder from her black messenger bag and began going through its contents again. She was relieved that she had changed out of her SeeD uniform before arriving, because it helped her blend in a lot more with the students that she had seen coming to and fro from different locations. She thought it was somewhat strange that despite obviously belonging to the same place, no one wore uniforms. This made her wonder how they were able to identify each other as fellow colleagues... but maybe it just wasn't important. She told herself she shouldn't be so quick to assume things that are common knowledge to her; this was a different place in a different world, despite many similarities.

Through scanning the documents in front of her, Xu was able to find out that the college was called Grand Valley State University. It also said that the climate was rather cold, much like the mountainous regions of Trabia, but that piece of information seemed to be wrong. The weather was actually quite warm, and Xu removed the blue button-up sweater that she had over her white tank top and tied it around her waist. Upon reading some more, she discovered that Squall, Zell, Irvine, and even Seifer had been deployed to this world to search for possible sorceress activity only to eventually find out that they had literally stepped into an alternate universe where such things did not exist and people carried out relatively calm and peaceful lives. It was also here that the group met two girls who would become their friends... and some time after that, cross over into their world to help defeat Ultimecia.

The entire concept made Xu's head spin. She honestly would not have believed it had she not seen the two girls at Garden all those years ago, first as cadets and then as renowned heroes. It explained why neither she nor anyone else had seen or heard anything of the girls since shortly after the sorceress' defeat. She didn't know how a thing like this could have been possible. She was used to hearing about sorceresses with untold amounts of power that always seemed hell-bent on the destruction or domination of the world and all that lived upon it, but she didn't know what to think about mysterious portals popping out of nowhere leading to other dimensions. It just didn't make any sense. But Cid had warned her about it prior to her accepting the mission, and had even given her the opportunity to decline without penalty. She couldn't go back on that, after seeing how much the Headmaster trusted her to do this.

She just wished she knew how to accomplish it.

Knowing that looking over the file some more would only serve to make her brain attempt to analyze it on a level in which she couldn't fathom at the moment, she settled for removing the photographs and placing them in her back pants pocket while putting the folder back into her bag before shouldering it and standing up. Tucking one side of her straight brown hair behind one ear, Xu picked a direction at random and started walking.

_This IS a beautiful place. Being able to walk around in the open like this without fear of monsters must be really nice. _She shortly came to a very long bridge that spanned over a deep gorge, and as she crossed it she looked down into the valley and noticed that a small stream was running along at the bottom, splashing clear water along the surfaces of tree branches, rocks, and other foliage. She tried not to stare too long at the students she passed, for fear that they'd be weirded out, but in the event that she might be lucky and happen to pass one or both of the people she was looking for, she wanted to make sure she didn't miss that rare opportunity. _It'd save me a lot of trouble, anyway. _Sighing to herself, she reached the other end of the bridge and eventually found herself standing in front of a large building with the words "Padnos Hall of Science".

_Should I go in? I don't know if I should... but I guess everything goes at this moment. _Approaching one of the large glass doors, she pulled one open by the metal handle and walked inside. She found herself in a somewhat narrow hallway, lined on one side by display cases that held things ranging from animal bones to precious stones. The hall was almost completely empty, save for seating areas way on one side that held a couple of students busily typing on their laptops and doing homework. It was also rather quiet. _I wonder if everyone is in class. _Walking a bit until she came to the end of the hallway, she chanced glancing in a classroom where rows of long black lab tables were set up, almost completely full with students. A professor stood near the front, using a long wooden pointer to identify parts of a rather complicated diagram of something Xu couldn't quite make out. At any rate, she didn't suppose it would be a smart idea to just walk into the classroom and start examining people. _I wouldn't be able to come up with any kind of excuse for that kind of behavior._ The brunette sufficed to following the hallway around the corner, stopping every now and then to look at something or to be distracted by an article or two that was plastered on the doors of professors' offices. She figured out just from a couple of these articles that the world she had stumbled into didn't have magic to help cure injuries or anything else. Technology and experimentation were valued, and the only other place Xu knew of that was equivalent to such discoveries and interest was the city of Esthar. Although she supposed it was commendable that science was widespread enough in the world to warrant such open discoveries about which can be invented to deal with whatever problem arises, she also lamented the loss of magic. It was something that didn't need to be explained or broken down in order to be effective, just as long as a person knew how to use it.

Xu eventually climbed a short staircase to a secondary level of the first floor that was carpeted and fairly artistic in design, dotting a very large lobby where students lounged in random places with a triangle-shaped fountain, fish tanks, and glittering trinkets on display. Deciding that she had enough of wandering around inside, she headed for the nearest door and stepped out, breathing in the fresh air. The door she chose let her out nearby a large marble fountain that splashed with crystalline blue water that sparkled in the sunlight, and she walked towards it to peer down at her reflection in the rippling surface. _This isn't going anywhere. I need to find a lead, somehow. _Looking upwards, she saw that she stood in front of another rather large edifice, only this one was called "Student Services Building"._Services, huh? I wonder..._

She found herself pulling open another set of double glass doors to arrive in a spacious hall that reminded her of an upscale office building. The Grand Valley banner hung off to one side, spanning the length of a wall with its blue and white colors. Xu blinked at it before noticing the small unmanned counter below it, littered with paraphernalia advertising the university. She picked up a pamphlet and flipped through it.

_A strong liberal education serves as the foundation for Grand Valley's wide array of undergraduate and graduate programs, fostering critical thinking, creative problem solving, and cultural understanding._

_Hmm... sounds promising._ Up until that point, Xu never really considered the possibility of education beyond a specific purpose. In her world, people didn't go to school simply to be educated. Most were educated for the purpose of becoming a SeeD, or educated for the purpose of joining the Galbadian Army; those were the only forms of institutionalized learning available. Any other sort of education was often family based, which meant that many occupations come from the same family line or friends of that family. She had heard that things were different in Esthar, but lots of things were different there. She scanned some more basic statistics about the university before reading something that almost made her drop the laminated piece paper she was holding.

_Over 23,000 students are enrolled here? How am I supposed to find TWO out of thousands?_ Suddenly, the weight of her task dumped on her again before she even realized she was starting to relax. Looking up and around, her hazel eyes settled on a line of students waiting to talk to individual people stationed at windows that made a semi-circle around one part of the hall. Figuring that it was a good place to start seriously looking for information, Xu positioned herself behind the last person in line and waited for her turn. It came rather quick despite how long the line initially looked, and she walked self-consciously to the free person at a window. Glancing at her shiny gold nametag, Xu discovered that the woman's name was Marie.

"Hello, how may I help you?" Marie asked, smiling politely.

Xu swallowed. "Umm... can you tell me how I could find someone here?"

The blonde behind the counter blinked in confusion at the general nature of the inquiry. "Someone? Someone who works here at this building, a professor, a student...?"

"A student. Two, actually. I'm sorry if I'm confusing, but I'm new to this. I'm... coming in from out of town and I haven't seen my friends in many years, but I heard that they were attending this university and I wanted to surprise them."

"Ah, I see. Well, unfortunately, it's against our rules to give out that kind of information. It's a security measure to protect the safety of our students, but I'm sorry I can't help you find your friends." Marie paused for a moment before continuing. "However, do you see over there where there are three computers? They are pretty much open to public use. The most I can tell you is that there will be a blue tab in the upper right-hand corner of our homepage that says 'People Finder'. If you type in the names of your friends, you'll be able to find out their campus phone number and E-mail. It's not much, but it's something."

"Thank you." Xu thanked the woman genuinely and walked off to where she recommended, going over possible plans of what to do next. She didn't know why she tried looking them up using the method she was told, since she could do next to nothing with the information she was given. She couldn't e-mail them, as she had no E-mail address to do it from. Xu's next best effort would be to call them using the phone number listed, but she hesitated since she didn't know what she'd say. Would they even believe her? A face-to-face encounter was undoubtedly needed, even though she didn't know if she preferred it. How WOULD they react? What if they had forgotten?

The only good thing that she supposed she accomplished was indeed confirming that they were still enrolled and obviously still living somewhere on campus. Even if the campus did house thousands of students.

Sighing heavily, Xu made her way back to the entrance, taking out the pictures she had placed in her pocket. Examining the very plain looking headshots that was required for all profiles of cadets in any Garden, she absentmindedly wondered if they even looked the same. It HAD been four years... but Xu didn't consider herself changed that much over time. Perhaps a little bit older and wiser, but that wasn't something individuals can discern about themselves unless they had people to tell them as such.

Regina Stewart's round face and pleasant smile was captured in one of the two small photos Xu held. Her black hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and everything from her delicate eyebrows to her careful grin seemed to emanate the innocent and initially timid person she was. She wasn't around to witness it personally, but Xu knew that it took all of the girl's inner strength to balance being a SeeD AND a sorceress, along with leading a double life up until the very end where she returned to the one she left. Zell was the one who openly lamented the unexpected and "unknown" departure, claiming that he was left to do his best taking care of the one thing she left behind, an orange moomba by the name of Ravi. Even though it was rare to see the commander of Balamb Garden, she knew that he missed his cadet even if he didn't show it.

Looking to the other picture, Xu actually remembered an instance with this girl. It was in the cafeteria, and she had gotten very vocal over the fact that the hot dog she had just purchased was not to her standards because it was missing something called "sweet relish". Seifer, the then-head of the Disciplinary Committee, had to almost forcibly make her quiet down, and when she finally did she snuck a very crude hand gesture when his back was turned. Xu couldn't help but stifle a giggle at that memory, even though at the time that event had happened, she was just as appalled as personnel behind the counters. Sharon Gladden was indeed a character, in stark contrast to her best friend.

If anything, Xu did come to a newfound respect for both of the girls. It wasn't easy to complete SeeD training, and it also takes a special person to save the world. But all of those accomplishments now seemed to be magnified by the fact that those two girls had managed to do all of that in a world not their own. _How COULD they have known what they were getting into? When I signed up to be a SeeD, I knew what I was doing. There was a contract, there were faces, and my parents had already gone over their opinions and expectations and doubts with me for at least a year prior to my decision. Regina and Sharon... they didn't have that choice; they just had to go with it along with pretending everything was normal. Of course, they had friends to help share their secret, but still..._She decided to pause her musing and replace the pictures when she found herself in the middle of the walkway in front of the Student Services building and almost colliding with a person who probably had more of a clue as to where they were going than she.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking... here..." Xu fumbled and reached for a large black canvas that had tumbled on the ground. "I hope it isn't dama-" She caught her breath when she looked up at the face of the person she bumped into.

The girl was slim, with light brown skin that both contrasted and complimented with her neon green hair. It wasn't really the hair that shocked her, despite the unnatural color that had most people on campus turning their heads more than once.

"... Sharon?"

The girl blinked, then smiled faintly and shook her head. "Sorry, wrong multicolored black chick." She helped take her art project from Xu and repositioned the strap on her shoulder so it would be more secure. "She's the one with pink hair."

The SeeD just stood there, half gaping and blinking. She so desperately wanted to whip out the pictures she had and place them next to the face of the girl she was addressing now just to make sure she wasn't going crazy. "Um... oh... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend or anything. I've just been trying to find her all day and I thought that you were..." She trailed off, fighting off the blush that was threatening to rise on her cheeks.

"No, no, it's fine, none taken." The girl reassured. "I think we're both used to it by now."

Xu got her thoughts together enough to pinpoint a piece of information that she could use to her advantage. "Used to it?"  
"Yeah." The girl began walking again, and Xu followed. "I'm her doppelganger, kind of. It wasn't planned, but we both figured it was kind of cool. She even came up with the idea to sit in on each other's classes to see if our professors would notice the switch, but we haven't done that yet. Maybe it's for the better."

"Oh. Well... that's interesting. May I ask your name so I don't get mixed up again?"

"Sure. It's Liz. And..." Her eyes flickered up above the rims of her glasses to check the time that was displayed on the clock tower that was a few feet in front of them. "I'm seriously going to be late to class. I gotta get this collage to Calder before my professor has a fit... again."

Xu clapped a hand over her mouth. "Oh! I'm sorry; I've kept you, haven't I?"

Liz shook her head. "No, not really. I was late before you bumped into me. But I really gotta go."

"Okay... oh, wait! If you know Sharon, do you know where I could find her?"

The art student blinked. "Not... really. I think she's in class, or she could be in her dorm... our schedule's clash, so we don't hang out that much. But she's around; I usually run into her the same way you ran into me, actually. I'm sorry I can't be of much help! Goodbye!" Waving, Liz made her way around the clock tower and off on a sidewalk that took her around a large building, and eventually out of sight.

_Why do I feel so defeated right now?_ She had a lead, and she watched it go. Not like she could have done anything about it, now that she pondered the encounter for a moment. _Liz had to go to class, and just because she looked remarkably like one of the people she was supposed to find didn't mean that she kept tabs on her "doppelganger". Although I suppose if Sharon does have pink hair, then she should be easy to spot in a crowd._ Xu started a bit when the chimes of the tower kicked in, signifying the beginning of a new hour. The bells were much louder when one was standing almost practically underneath it. She was oddly reminded of the chimes that were played over the intercom system that was dispersed throughout Balamb Garden, usually precluding and following an important announcement from the Headmaster.

Suddenly, Xu was rushed by an overwhelming bout of homesickness.

_Snap out of it! You haven't even been here that long and you're getting nostalgic! Think of the two people you're looking for now; they didn't let being away from home stop them from doing what they had to do. Think of them, and think of the Headmaster, and think of how things are getting worse and worse back home. The sooner you find them, the sooner you can go back, and the next step can be taken to figuring out what exactly is going to happen from there on out._ After she had given herself a good mental lashing, she looked up at the large building behind the clock tower with a new purpose.

The day was still young.

So, she would sit and wait.


	4. Chapter 3

Somewhere on the first floor of Mackinac Hall, a class was adjourning about 15 minutes over schedule. The students in that course expected it, though; they usually ran over for one reason or another. The door to the classroom opened and the first student to exit the room took a moment to gather her things. She really should leave the classroom a bit more organized, but unfortunately her only thought is to get the hell out while her brain cells were still intact. Gazing down at the sheet of paper that she made sure to grab before rushing out, she made a face.

"Fuck. I'm so screwed."

"Since when is that new for any of us?" A new voice chimed in, waving his own copy around before placing it in his messenger bag. "Maybe he'll go easy on us this time."

The girl raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Really, Greg? Professor Smith? Go EASY on us? I think he likes seeing our tortured faces a little bit too much."

Greg shrugged. "Well, I was TRYING to be optimistic for once, Sharon."

"Go back to being a cynical bastard; it suits you much better, and I think I like the realism better."

"Come to think of it, I like being a bastard better myself. I'll be sure to leave bomb threats under my roommate's pillow tonight, just to reassure that fact." He turned to go down the hall. "Don't forget, Chiu Laoshi wants us to meet in the Language Lab today. Oh, and there's a dictation, too. But you knew that, right?"

Sharon just glared at him incredulously as he gave a grin and made his way into the thickening crowd of students. She remembered that she was still holding her assignment in her hand, and she folded it up before sticking it haphazardly into a pocket on the side of her messenger bag that was identical to the one her classmate Greg had. They both had gotten them on the same study abroad trip to Taiwan that summer from National Taiwan Normal University, and outside of being a good souvenir it was also functional as an adequate transport of books from class to class at Grand Valley.

_How the hell am I going to graduate with my degree if I can't pass the damn classes? _Time and time again, she wondered why she changed from being a Film and Video major to a Chinese Language major and thought she could accomplish it easier. True, the Film and Video program had pissed her off one too many times to force her into making a decision that she didn't think she would have had the balls to do unless she WAS angry enough to do it without thinking, but it was times like these when she found herself dreading the next time she had to show up to Classical Chinese. The newest assignment was evidently an excerpt straight out of the Confucian Analects, and the entire thing had to be translated into English by the next class period, which was in two days. Seeing as though it took Sharon three hours to translate one sentence in her very first assignment, she didn't know how she was going to accomplish this one. Not to mention she DID have other classes that threatened to kick her ass if she didn't get on the ball soon enough.

_The only thing that's NOT a total fail is Tai Chi. But it figures the one class I could probably ace I'm not enrolled in anymore. _Taking a moment to brush pink, purple, and black bangs off of her forehead, she made her way through the confusing hallways of the building to the second floor, where her next torture class of the day would take place. She didn't know why, but it seemed like she always took the long way to the Language Lab. Or maybe she just liked taking the back way in, because that way she got to pass by Professor Smith's office and stick her tongue out at him for making her life a living oriental hell. She couldn't do much else, however, because he DID hold her grade in his hands. That, and his wife was in charge of her OTHER Chinese course.

Over the years, Sharon didn't think she changed much. The few times that she came in contact with people from her high school, she was astonished at how much the people she used to know did grow up. Most of them she never gave them much credit when she was younger, but now they were on their own, getting jobs and being fiercely independent AND seemingly successful. Now, with her own graduation around the corner, she didn't feel like she was ready for it. Yes, she was ready to be done with the endless procrastination, headaches, tests, and homework, but she wasn't sure she was ready to really leave the college realm. She didn't know how everyone else seemed to do it, living in the real world and merging as easily as an experienced driver would upon entering an expressway. It had been five years since she embarked on the undergraduate realm, and she supposed all good things had to come to an end sooner or later. _ Just like..._

"Xiu Rong!"

Sharon stumbled out of her thoughts and into one of the secondary rooms of the large (yet not large enough) computer lab designed for students studying the many foreign languages offered at her university, where her Chinese language professor was standing attentively at the main podium at the back of the room. She was certainly the opposite to her husband in every way possible, down to her Taiwanese nationality and her perky demeanor and her cute smile. She was also much more strict on classroom policies, including that of homework and attendance to Sharon's dismay. The colorful girl stood in the doorway for a moment, wondering why her professor and most of her classmates were looking at her expectantly. _Oh yeah. I'm the class leader, and I'm about three minutes late. Oops. _She chose a chair and dumped her things unceremoniously on the desk in front of it before clearing her throat. "Qi Li!" She waited until her classmates got to their feet and faced Chiu Laoshi. "Laoshi hao." Everyone bowed their respect and repeated their greetings before seating themselves.

"Jintian nimen you tingxue, dui bu dui?" Chiu asked playfully, knowing the answer but waiting to see if anyone would actually dispute the fact that they indeed had a dictation that day. A chorus of mumbled "dui" were heard, and she waited until her students pulled out a sheet of paper before she began to choose the vocabulary words from their current chapter that they would be tested on.

_Well. This will be dictation number 4 that I will have failed this semester... and it just started. Damnit, I knew I should have studied. What was I doing again? Oh yeah, playing video games. _She remembered the fun night that she and her friends had, crashing car after car in the latest Burnout title for the PS2. It was good for her to be able to hang out with the group in which she called "Plan B", because it got her out of her dorm where she undoubtedly spent too much time contemplating a lot of things she didn't need to dwell on. However, it was NOT good for her to skip out on her studies, which she hated but she was going to have to complete if she even hoped to stop wasting her parents' money on any more study abroad trips and classes.

But she still had one more trip to complete. She had to go back to Shanghai directly following her projected graduation.

And before that, she supposed she should let her parents know.

"Di yi!" Inwardly groaning, Sharon wrote her Chinese name at the top of the page as the dictation began. _Well, at least I'll get my name right._

* * *

"So, like... what do you have that's good here?" A spacey freshman asked an employee at the Lobby Shop, an increasingly popular barista situated at the far end of the Kirkoff Center.

"Umm... we have coffee. And smoothies." The person behind the register replied, smiling from beneath her black cap that displayed the name of her place of employment proudly along with multicolored pins advertising the seasonal drinks they changed up every month or so.

The girl blinked for a moment and stared at the large signs displaying the multitude of beverages they offered. "Do you have... something that's chocolatey, but not too chocolatey... but it should still taste like chocolate, like... not bitter like coffee, because I totally hate coffee."

The employee behind the counter hid an impervious eyebrow twitch under the brim of her cap and started keying in things on the register in front of her. "So, you want a hot chocolate with a flavor shot of vanilla. What size?"

"Umm... what are they? Oh, just give me a small."

"Short." She corrected the girl and completed her order. "That will be $2.59. And your name is?"

"Stacie."

Gina wrote down what Stacie ordered before placing the cup in the very long line of waiting orders on the counter behind her and turned to address the next person in line, who was almost too engrossed in his cell phone conversation to address her properly. When she asked him to repeat his order, he gave her a dirty look and snappishly repeated it before returning haughtily to his call.

_My god. Another day at the Lobby Shop, and I'm already sick and tired of the people. _The only reason she was working there was because she desperately needed the money, and having an on-campus job was the only option for someone like her who didn't have a car on campus and couldn't drive themselves to the mall or elsewhere for other job options. There was an added plus to working at the coffee shop, though; one of her good friends and roommate Steph was a manager at the place and helped her secure her job, and the few times that they happened to work the same shifts it made the experience a little bit more bearable. Gina did like working at a barista and equally liked trying out a lot of the drinks they offered for free (thus perpetuating her addiction to coffee).

She just wished the people she had to deal with everyday weren't so ignorant, and that her shifts weren't so excruciatingly long. She was beginning to lose much needed sleep due to the long hours she put in and the amount of times during the week that she had to close the shop, and that in turn affected her schoolwork and also cut into the time she could be using to chill out and play video games.

Moving from her station to one of the blenders to try to help move along production a bit, Gina decided that she missed the days where she and her best friend Sharon would just chill out in the lobby of whatever building they happened to live in at the time and plug in a game system without much of a care in the world. Neither of them had the time to do that now, and it was a tad different now that they had found themselves a group of friends that shared the same enthusiasm as they did for the gaming world. They all got together as a group when they could and sat around on the couch for group gaming sessions in which one person would play and the rest would watch and offer encouragement or shriek in excitement or fear, depending on the genre they had decided on for that period of time. Even though it certainly cut down on the time that just she and Sharon spent together, Gina wouldn't trade those times for the world.

She had missed being a part of a group. As she moved around the small space allotted for the Lobby Shop workers, she was faintly aware of a heavy weight that laid close to her chest underneath her uniform so that she didn't violate safety procedures. So much time had gone by, yet it seemed like it was just yesterday when an impromptu adventure that had changed her life came to an end. She remembered having long conversations about it with Sharon over dinner for at least a year, and finally coming to the joint conclusion that they should just try their best to get over it. After that... life went on as best as it could. Sharon blew her way through after their sophomore year ended, deporting herself randomly to China and finding a new passion. Gina wished she could have done that, spending her summers in foreign countries, but China wasn't her niche and she was tight on money anyway, so she opted for spending her summers at GV, working to complete her Animation emphasis so she too could graduate next year.

But no matter how much she worked on either school or at the Lobby Shop, she couldn't stop her thoughts from returning to Balamb Garden and the people she left.

It was futile to dwell on it, because she couldn't go back. She just wished that she could check up on them or something. She wanted to know how they were doing. She was almost afraid that they had moved on and forgotten about her, just like she knew she was supposed to be doing herself. But a part of her, the instinctual part, told her otherwise and was half a reassurance and half painful. She hoped that Squall and the others weren't thinking of them as much as she was, because they had a more important life to live, one that didn't - and shouldn't - include outsiders from another world. Gina returned to the cash register absentmindedly. _I wonder... if Squall found a girlfriend. It shouldn't matter though... should it? Argh, I need to snap out of it..._

"Hey, can I get a number 98? No pickles, and a hint of strawberry, please."

Smiling at the ridiculous order, Gina perked up and out of her thoughts. "Sharii-chan! Coming right up." She was the only one who knew exactly what order 98 was, since it was actually a non-existent drink on the menu. Gina decided to give her friend a strawberry and raspberry smoothie with a protein booster, and set the cup down next to the blenders. A fellow co-worker picked it up did a double take at the drink number on the side, and glanced up at their drink list to make sure they weren't going nuts.

"How was class?"

Sharon rolled her eyes. "Bu hao. Failed another dictation. It's going to be a miracle at this point if I pass that class."

Gina frowned. "But it's only the beginning of the semester! I think you can pull something together before grades are due. You always do, remember?"

"Yeah, but by the hair of my teeth or however the hell the saying goes. Someday, my luck is going to go out, and it just would be too perfect for it to run out right when I need it the most. But I did this to myself, so I think I should just take it and deal. Maybe it'll make me more responsible or something like that." She leaned lazily against the counter, taking no notice of the people that incredulously glared at her audacity to hold up the line. "Do you close today?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Today is going to be one of the longest days of my life, and it just started. Are you going to come visit later?"

"Yep. Thank god it's Thursday and thank all the other gods that I was smart enough not to schedule classes for Friday, so I can sleep in. I might take a nap when I go back... but that's only if I don't get on the internet or turn on the Playstation once I walk into my room."

"I wish I could sleep right now. I'm so freaking tired." Gina rubbed at her eyes for a moment.

Sharon looked on in concern. She caught a glimpse of silver sticking out from underneath the collar of her work shirt, and faintly wondered if she was thinking too much about Squall again. Even though the two girls didn't talk about it anymore, Sharon wasn't stupid. She knew her friend thought about it more often than she did, and as a result it probably affected her more than the quiet girl was saying.

"Well... maybe you should think about trying to get some days off. I'm worried about you, ya know." She gave her friend a pointed look, which Gina avoided by glancing off to the side. "In any case... I should let you go back to work. These folks are gonna kill the shit out of me if I keep preventing their acquisition of precious caffinated beverages."

"Sharon!" One of the workers had just finished making her smoothie, and Sharon moved over to grab her cup with a nod of thanks. Poking a straw in the top and taking a sip, she murmured approval. "This shit is good. What'd you choose today?"

"Obviously something I knew you would like." Gina grinned good-naturedly, moving to take the next order.

Leaving it at that, Sharon waved goodbye to her best friend, who was already swamped with an influx of new orders, and exited out of the back of the Kirkoff Center. She took a minute to somehow balance her drink in the crook of her arm while she fished her iPod out of her bag. It was only about a five minute walk from Kirkoff to her dorm building, but any opportunity she had to listen to her music was an opportunity she took. Music was her key to zoning out completely, and there was something indescribably different about listening to music in earphones while walking to a destination than just sitting in her dorm listening to the same music from her speakers.

She was really glad for the good weather Allendale was allowing these days. It was still very warm and it would hopefully stay that warm until later that month, because Sharon really couldn't take the cold that well. She wondered how in the hell she survived her freshman year, since she didn't have a proper winter coat back then and had to rely on her trademark Lisa Frank jacket for whatever warmth it offered. Now, she couldn't go halfway through the fall without switching to a heavier (and sadly less colorful) alternative.

Concerning her best friend and her issues that she wasn't elaborating on, Sharon took a moment to assess how she felt about it. Despite all of her introspection that her study abroad experiences, philosophy courses, and general college life forced her to do, the orphanage gang and the corresponding world that they left wasn't something she stopped to think about. It was a part of her that was locked away, and had been locked away the moment she stepped back through that portal to her own world. Unfortunately, now that she allowed herself a moment to ponder, she didn't know HOW she felt. If anything at all, the feeling of void detachment greeted her, and Sharon remembered why she didn't think on it anymore. She ALWAYS got that emotional response when she quizzed herself on that whole period of her life that was undoubtedly important and unforgettable, and it bothered her. _Who in the hell goes through an altering and damn near unbelievable experience like that and comes out of it detached, anyway? Jae would so rip me a new one if she even knew what the hell was going on..._

Jaenelle, one of her friends that helped make up Plan B, was her running buddy to both China and Taiwan. As a result, the two girls had gone through a lot together, and became close enough that Jae had been able to pinpoint the fact that Sharon had a habit of being so hyper that she often made it impossible for people to get to know her past a certain level. Sharon couldn't help but agree, and she had tried since then to keep herself open to the other people in her life that weren't Gina. Even so, there were still some things she couldn't share just yet... especially things that involved a video game universe come to life.

Digging her key card out of her back pocket, she swiped it into the slot in one of the back doors to South A Living Center and keyed in her code to unlock the door, and started the long trek up three flights of stairs where she would eventually come to room 305. When she reached the door, she glanced down at the dry erase board she shared with her roommate, Jenna, and discovered that she would once again be having the dorm to herself for the entire weekend. She didn't know how she lucked out with roommates for the majority of her college career; there was one her sophomore year that was a total disaster, but for the most part they were much like her first year roommate Anne and were hardly in the dorm.

Sometimes, it made Sharon wonder if she didn't have that much of a life. But then again, she wasn't sure she cared all that much. She knew a little bit what it was like to have a life, and an exciting one at that, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to return to that.

She was indeed very happy as a lazyass college student. Even if it did involve failing many Chinese courses.


	5. Chapter 4

Xu was getting the hang of traversing the Allendale campus of GVSU. The campus was majestic, but not terribly large, and it was possible for her to walk the general perimeter of the campus in half an hour if she walked briskly. The weather was still good, and there was even a breeze stirring every once in awhile, carrying the scent of many flowers and other natural essences to her nose.

Despite her minor accomplishment, things still weren't looking up. Looking around and familiarizing herself with the campus helped distract her from the fact that she was horribly disoriented. The world she was a visitor to didn't treat her unkindly, however Xu couldn't shake the feeling that it was just some sort of weird spin-off to the world she knew as her own. It also didn't help that she had problems discerning exactly how much time had passed. She didn't quite get the time issue between the passage of the worlds at all; how could she, really? It didn't make much sense, and she didn't suppose even Dr. Odine knew all of the complexities of the newest toy he invented. It tripped her out on a whole new level when she realized she could spend as much time as she wanted at Grand Valley, yet not a second from the moment she left passed back at Balamb Garden. As a result, she resolved not to make any more trips back to Garden until she had found Gina and Sharon. It would mess up her orientation way more than it already had been tampered with.

Yawning, she found herself standing in front of the large clock tower in front of the Kirkoff Center again. It was her best way to keep track of the time, seeing as though she had no working watch at the moment. The only thing she could estimate correctly is that a day had passed, and when she caught sight of the campus newspaper, the Lanthorn, the day indicated that it was the start of the weekend. She feared that if she didn't make any headway soon, then she would be stuck at least two days without much of a chance at anything. Xu's best bet thus far was to wander around campus when the traffic was the heaviest, hoping to catch a glance of either of the girls. But her luck must have been at its highest that day when she ran into Liz, because ever since that moment, she didn't even run into a doppelganger or two. Xu knew one thing though; she didn't have to check her profile pictures anymore, as she was sure she'd spent enough time double and triple checking herself every single time she got hopeful that she'd be able to spot them from a mile away.

If only she was in the right area, however.

_I feel rather hungry, but unfortunately I have only gil, which I don't think is the official currency of this world, anyway. I'd be nice if there was a currency converter. _Giving up on sustenance for the time being, she made her way around the tower and up two flights of stairs to the first level of the Kirkoff Center, which Xu had heard was the center of events for the campus life. Upon entering, she gazed around the main walkway which was littered with students lounging on sofas or chairs, looking up something random at one of the computer stands (much like the ones she encountered in the Student Services Building), and hordes of more people lining up at something called the Lobby Shop which constantly wafted the aroma of coffee beans. As she walked slowly, she peeked in some of the side rooms, and she was greeted by more lounging students or tables advertising many kinds of charity events or group bake sales. The young SeeD eyed many of the edible treats lined up on a couple of tables before deciding to distract herself by cutting in an alcove to her left. She was immediately greeted by the louder sounds of conversation, pool playing, and video games as that move put her closer to the game room, but she kept straight and ended up going down a flight of stairs.

_Well, it's quieter... but I'm not helping my hunger any. I've evidently ended up at the food court. _Blinking at the sights of the different stations fixing a multitude of different things depending on what a student ordered from the menu, she began to think of how similar it was to when Garden had their specialized "hot dog specials". Of course, it was usually Zell who got there first and cleared out at least half of their stock, but people at Garden tolerated it fairly well due to the fact he was one of the heroes that helped save the world. _Favoritism at its best. But I think it helps tremendously that Zell is such a lovable person that not even the kitchen staff minds his insatiable appetite. _Smiling fondly to herself in a semi-nostalgic manner, she didn't notice the girl calling her over until the third try.

"Hey! Wow, you were really out of it for a moment there. I just wanted to ask how you were doing?"

Blinking, Xu was sent into a brief confusion. _Is it customary here for random people to accost total strangers just to see 'how they are doing'? _Sensing an ulterior motive but not exactly sure whether or not it was a danger to her, she took a quick surveillance of the situation. The girl was obviously a college student, and obviously very in tune with the color pink. The table she was standing behind was draped with a pink tablecloth, and pink and white helium balloons were tied to either side of the table in a fashionable manner. Other than that, the table held nothing else much of interest, and the girl who addressed her wasn't even wearing a nametag unlike the woman who first attempted to help her at the Student Services building. All she could make out were three small letters in a fancy yet block-lettered script on the right hand side of her light pink baby tee, and she had no idea what they stood for. _Perhaps her name?_

"I'm... fine."

"Good! It's a great day to be feeling in high spirits, since the weather is so nice out! I really hope this kind of luck sticks with us."

Xu nodded absentmindedly, trying not to appear so dumbfounded, confused, and half-suspicious. "It's usually colder than this here."

"Tell me about it! But we're just coming off of the Labor Day break, so I think we're gonna be lucky to be blessed with sunny skies for at least half a month longer." The girl smiled, showing of a perfect row of white teeth. "I was wondering if you were interested in joining Alpha Kappa Pi?"

She had done pretty well up until this point, but Xu couldn't mask her ignorance anymore. Her mouth slightly agape, she blinked for a few moments before clearing her throat. "Alpha Kappa Pi?"

"Yes, our sorority. Maybe you'd like to know more about us, then?"

Not really knowing what to say to deter this rather nice girl from recruiting her to whatever a sorority was, she settled for nodding once more and the girl brightened up extensively while unearthing from some unknown location a flyer with the same letters Xu had witnessed on her T-shirt and a ton of other things she couldn't exactly wrap her head around. _What in the world is a sorority? And what made them chose me out of all the other people here? Is it written all over my face or something like that? I really don't know what's going on._ As the girl whose name she never got (she was usually very good at getting names; it was part of her training as a SeeD to acquire as much information as possible about any persons she came prolonged contact with due to the complexities of the forms a SeeD had to fill out after a mission) began explaining the depths of her group and what they stood for, all while maintaining a very pleasant and smiling demeanor.

_I think Galbadia Garden would kill for someone as enthusiastic as her to be their official spokesperson; if she somehow remembers all of this information about this Alpha Kappa Pi organization off of the top of her head, then she could be well in charge of doing the same for them. _After a couple of minutes, Xu realized that she could get away with imitating the girls shine in her own hazel eyes and nodding frequently. This also constituted a strange feeling of numbness in her brain. She found herself hazily drifting her eyes from side to side inconspicuously, but even if she did it obviously the girl was too enthralled by her speech to notice that Xu had just about almost zoned out of everything she was saying.

"And... that's Alpha Kappa Pi, in a nutshell. If you want to know anything more, then feel free to sign up here today and come to our first screening meeting, held at the end of this month. If you have any questions prior to that date, feel free to contact me or any of the other people listed on the flyer." The girl finished up and looked at the brunette in front of her expectantly.

Xu stood in the exact same position in which she arrived, her mouth just slightly open and her eyes glassed over and directed at a spot somewhere off in the background. The sorority girl was a bit concerned that she overdid it - after all, this was her first time actually promoting - and tried to figure out ways in her head to rectify the situation before she lost another potential member. But first, she had to get the girl out of the daze she put herself in. Snapping her fingers a couple of times, she went for the more intrusive method then and waved her hand in front of the girl's face. When THAT produced no results, she reached to tap her on the shoulder when the girl finally responded by sucking in a quick gasp and blinking in shock as if just realizing where she was.

"Umm... I think you zoned out, again. I was asking you if-"

"I'm sorry! I've got to go!" Xu bolted for the nearest door without another glance back, leaving the Alpha Kappa Pi promoter even more confused and slightly concerned for the girl's mental health. If she was prone to spacing out and darting off frequently, then maybe it wasn't a sorority she was supposed to join; perhaps it should be more like a mental institution.

Upon reaching the outdoors, she saw that she had somehow come to the back of the building that was facing a small lake in the middle of a grassy field, where a water fountain drizzled a comforting spray upon the water's surface. It wasn't for the pleasantries of the scenery that she darted outside so quickly, nor was it really to get away from the girl who had talked one sentence too many. Xu scanned the people briefly in all directions before lighting on a group of five girls who were walking to the south steadily. Dodging idle students who oddly didn't blink an eye at the girl who was clearly in a hurry, she quickened her pace to a jog until the group of girls were within what she guessed was hearing distance. "WAIT!"

The roaring laughter that the group was engulfed in came to a halt abruptly as one of the girls turned around with a look that stopped Xu cold. It wasn't particularly condescending, yet she couldn't help but feel caught where she shouldn't be at the fierce green eyes that met her own rather quickly. In fact, for a moment, Xu totally forgot what her purpose was for shouting out so suddenly.

"Yes?" A voice from another source addressed her then, and Xu came out of her shock long enough to take in the figure of another girl with chin length brown hair. Her eyes were also a shade of green, but they were warmer and slightly curious as to why this random girl had tracked them down. Another girl from the group was standing beside that one, shorter in stature and with very long blonde hair. She gave Xu a half smile that was unobtrusive, yet also a bit unrevealing.

"Ah... umm..." Her heart was caught in her throat and was hammering rather fast. She'd certainly been in tougher situations in her life at Balamb Garden, however somehow being so close to completing her mission made her freeze. It wasn't how she expected to do this, at all. _ It's now or never. _"Sharon? Regina?"

The three girls turned in unison to the other two members of the group who were standing side by side, just as equally confused as the rest of them. Their expressions got even more perturbed at the mention of their names, and they traded glances for a moment before the one with the brightly streaked pink and purple hair spoke up. "Yeah?" She squinted at the newcomer through her glasses for a moment, as if trying to unearth something from the back of her mind. "Do we... know you? I apologize though; I have a shit memory. I always remember faces, but never names."

Glancing uncertainly at the others one last time before taking a breath and assuming the air of a true SeeD officer, she nodded quickly once. "We never got the chance to truly meet face to face, but believe me when I say I come from somewhere that hasn't forgotten either of you. My name is Xu."

Dumbfounded silence greeted her then, but Xu was done being uncertain and edgy. Above all, she was a SeeD on a mission for her headmaster, and it was time for it to be completed.

It took Sharon a minute, but it seemed that once her brain got the appropriate cues to the twinges she had been feeling the entire time she had stood there examining the person who had tracked all of Plan B down, the world melted away around her until she was just left staring at Xu, a living reminder of the things she had spent years shoving down deep inside. Her blood ran cold as she stood agape for who knows how long, while certain chains of events replayed unbidden in her mind as if they had been dying to freed. She didn't even realize she hadn't breathed since Xu had revealed herself, and her vision started canting dangerously to the side.

"Rikku!" The blonde moved quickly and steadied her friend, looking at her in concern. "Are you alright?"

Forcing herself to jerkily look at the person who saved her from passing out, Sharon blinked rapidly in an effort to get things back into focus. "Yeah, Steph, I'm good. I just... um..." She caught the glance of her best friend, whose hand had unconsciously gone immediately to the necklace she was wearing beneath her shirt and was now clutching it so tight that her knuckles were paling as fast as her face. She then realized that she had to find a way to not be too terribly suspicious around her friends, because they had no bloody clue what the hell just happened.

Gina spoke up then, coming to the rescue. "She's an old friend of ours, guys. We didn't know she was coming to visit us, and she... moved out of town in the middle of our freshman year." Looking at Xu out of the corner of her eye, she kept a relatively calm posture and even managed a small smile.

"Oh! Well, that's sad, but I'm glad you guys were able to get in contact again!" The girl who had spoken first gave a friendly smile to Xu and stuck out her hand. "I'm Jaenelle. Any friend to Sharii and Gina is a friend to us! That is, if you want to be our friends."

Xu relaxed a bit out of her professional attitude and accepted the handshake warmly. "Thank you. I'm... grateful."

"Well, you won't be when you get to know us better. But then again, if you know Rikku, then you should be prepared for anything!" The blonde offered her hand next. "I'm Steph. Nice to meet you, Xu! That's a cool name, by the way." At this, Xu blushed a faint pink. No one had ever really complimented her on her name before, and to be honest she often thought that she had a rather awkward name for a girl.

"I'm Megh." The one who had given her the look that short-circuited her came forward, this time with a smile on her face and a chuckle. "Sorry about that; we were kind of in the middle of laughing at something totally ridiculous and weren't expecting someone to come running after us." After seeing that Megh was in actuality a rather nice person despite her initially detached demeanor, Xu realized that half the reason why the look had shocked her so much was because she had gotten that look many a time from Seifer Almasy when he was still head of the Disciplinary Committee at Garden, and it had always made her double-check herself for anything she could possibly be bunked on.

All in all, in just those few moments Xu could see that the three girls she just met were very much worthy to be the two unexpected heroes' friends.

"Ah... well, now that we all got acquainted..." Sharon laughed shortly, trying but failing at her usual jovial efforts. "I don't mean to ditch you guys, but I think me and Gina and Xu need to do some catching up. I think that'd be kind of boring to sit through for you guys, we'll just hit you up later."

Jae shrugged good-naturedly. "Okay. Well, if it's not too late when you guys get through, you can come on over and we can all hang out, play some video games..." Her eyes brightened. "OOH! We can show her Fatal Frame III, and maybe even Kingdom Hearts 2!"

"Yeah... Kingdom Hearts 2... what a great game..." The colorful girl trailed off a bit, a smile still plastered in place on her face. "Whatever game we happen to play, it'll be awesome."

"Yup! Okay, nice meeting you again Xu, and hope to see you later! Have fun getting re-acquainted! Bye!"

Both Gina and Sharon waved goodbye to their crew and watched them continue walking down the large pathway that would eventually lead around Lake Superior Hall and along a large parking lot to come to South B, where they would enter through the back. Once they were out of earshot, Sharon turned around and studied the SeeD up and down for a moment. "Please tell me this is all one big fucking joke."

Xu came down from the high she was on at meeting a group of promising new people and shook her head. "I wish I could. This wasn't an easy task for me, either."

Gina looked at her best friend of almost eight years and was greeted with a pursed lip expression that only meant that Sharon was getting dangerously serious. "In any case, this isn't the place to be discussing this. Let's get somewhere more private. Sharii-chan, your roomie's out for the weekend again, right? We can just station there until we get things spelled out for us."

Nodding a silent confirmation, Sharon turned and began walking down a similar path her friends had taken, leaving the two to follow behind. Xu really didn't know what else to say. Cid had warned her that they wouldn't be expecting her, and she guessed she understood the basis as to why they would not. But there was still so much she didn't understand and didn't know, and she was now afraid of the questions these girls might ask her and that she wouldn't have answers for. Sharon seemed very silent and brooding all of a sudden, and Gina kept up a different kind of silence that involved her sinking back into the recesses of her mind all while never letting go of whatever it was she was clutching onto for dear life inside of her shirt. All in all, she had succeeded in finding them.

But now it was the part about how she was going to bring them back.


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N:** I never explained why Steph called Sharon "Rikku", even in this following chapter, so I'd better cover my bases now. Basically, all of Plan B also call themselves the Gullwings due to similarities they have with FFX/X-2 characters. Sharon's Rikku, Jae is Yuna, Steph is Kimarhi, Megh is Paine, and Gina is Wakka.

* * *

"Wow... just... wow." Was all Gina could say.

She was lounged on Sharon's bed in the very colorful room that was lighted softly by the white Christmas lights that were strung up around the perimeter of the ceiling. Many books were scattered around the floor along with loose-leaf paper displaying complicated Chinese characters and their corresponding red marks from professors that indicated many mistakes. Synthetic hair of many different shapes, sizes, and colors were draped random places from the chair to the desk near a lava lamp that had been around since freshman year, and the trademark Lisa Frank jacket was hung up from a hook on the sliding door of her closet. Ordinarily, Sharon's room was a source of comfort. But under the circumstances, she couldn't even think of relaxing.

"So... let me get this straight." Sharon was seated with her legs crossed in her large gray computer chair, swiveled around from the desk to face the two people seated on her bed. "Your world is going down the shitter. Dr. Odine built this contraption that happens to emulate the portal that breeches both of our worlds, it actually WORKS, the gang that saved the world from Ultimecia is missing, and Headmaster Cid sent you through by yourself to find us and bring us back because evidently he needs us to do... something. This is so whacked out, I can hardly think straight."

"I know." Xu replied, looking briefly down at her hands that were folded in her lap. When she had first entered the room, she didn't want to sit on the bed, viewing it as improper as a new guest, but Sharon had insisted. It WAS rather comfy, now that she let herself admit it. "I found all of this out just minutes before I was sent here, and I still don't know everything. I swear, I think I'm more confused than you are."

Gina cleared her throat. "So... where are they? Our friends that saved the world with us?" It almost felt strange to say that out loud, but there was no use denying the reality of it any further.

"I... wish I knew. All that I told you is literally all that I know. Squall, Zell, and Selphie were apparently in the middle of a mission by Cid and they haven't returned. Professor Trepe has simply... disappeared. From what I heard, she just didn't show up to work one day. There was nothing to indicate that anything was wrong or out of the ordinary, so it was a huge shock to all of us as this is totally unlike her."

"What the fuck?" Sharon made a face. "Just what the hell is going ON?" Running her hands through her hair during a pause, she asked, "What about Irvine Kinneas? He's still around, isn't he?"

Xu tilted her head to the side. "It depends on what you mean by 'around'. He has returned to Galbadia Garden, and we're unable to establish contact with him since his departure."

Sharon's mouth just dropped open, and she turned a horrified gaze to her best friend. "This is... so beyond fucked. Irvine wouldn't just go back to Galbadia. He HATED it there. What the fucking hell..."

The quiet one of the pair sat in her place and toyed with the ends of her braided hair. Ever since she had streaked her hair in Balamb, she couldn't really stand not having the color red in her hair. So when the color eventually grew out, she commissioned her first-year roommate and sometimes-friend Tiffany to cornrow her hair in extensions that faded from black to red at the very tips. Gina admitted to herself that it was also another way to keep those times close to her, as a reminder. But now, her chest was tightened at the news that Squall was gone. Under different circumstances, she would have been geeked to be able to return to Balamb Garden for a visit, but all the excitement that would be there was nonexistent if the people she loved and cared about weren't around.

"So... what do you expect US to do?" Sharon asked.

Xu shrugged helplessly. "I personally don't expect you to do anything; I'd be surprised if you actually agreed to return with me given the situation. But I think the Headmaster has something in mind for you two, which is why he wants me to get you."

Sharon breathed and waited for a moment to see if Gina was going to say anything. When a couple of seconds passed and nothing came from her lips, she addressed Xu instead. "I think we're going to have to take a moment to think about it. Despite all of the enthusiasm we had the first time, we can't just jump into this without processing everything as best we can."

Xu nodded. "Understood. I'll wait in the other room so you two can discuss this in private." She slid off of the bed and to the door, where she paused in thought and looked back. "I... won't judge you no matter what decision you two make. It really shouldn't be your priority to care about the affairs of another world, no matter what you did for us in the past. I don't know if it matters... but I figured I'd say it anyway."

"Thank you." The SeeD nodded and walked out into the living room of the suite, closing the door behind her.

The taller girl examined her best friend, giving her a few more minutes to sit in silence with her eyes trained on the tips of her hair before speaking up. "Alright, spill. What do you think, G-fuu?"

Gina sighed and finally left her hair alone. "I... don't quite know, Sharii-chan. This is a lot to fathom."

"Tell me about it. I almost passed the hell out when I realized who she was today, and the news she brought doesn't make it any better." Sharon played with the bangle bracelets on her right wrist. "Look at us, G-fuu; we're seniors. 5th year seniors at that. We're going to graduate next semester, and then we're supposed to go to China with the rest of Plan B as our send-off to Jae when she finally moves there. The first time we discovered the FFVIII crew, we were young and stupid. Now, we're... older and still stupid, but not as foolhardy as we were back then. The turmoil that Xu described that's going on... what if we don't make it back? It was easier when we knew what was going to come next, but even your 'psychic' powers are going to be useless this time around."

"I know... it's going to be more dangerous this time. But... I don't think I can say no. My chest has been hurting for the past couple of weeks, and I can't sleep well anymore. Instinct tells me that the reason why has just made itself known. They're gone, and I have no idea why, but I do know that if we can do anything... then we should at least try. They're STILL our friends, Sharii-chan. Can you really abandon them after all we went through? I know you've been trying hard to shove it all away, but that isn't always the right thing to do."

Sharon frowned and looked away, staring at the view out of her window. "I know. I just... I can't help but feel that there's 'no time to make a profile'. For most of those 4 years, I've been trying not to think about it. I mean, it's not like we could go back, and we can't tell anyone what we did, so what was the point of dwelling on it? That time in my life had passed, and it was time to move on. This is almost as if Pastor McRae showed up in my door right now and told me that I had to come back to the church. While returning to Garden is much more optimistic than going back to the IAA, the shock factor is most probably the same. I left with the frame of mind that said I wasn't coming back. Now, all of that just got blown away and I'm left standing with the remains. How do you expect me to properly deal with that?"

Gina scooted off of the bed and hugged Sharon, who took a minute before she wrapped her arms around her friend in return. "I don't think there IS a proper way. I think we just have to go with the flow. Daoist thought, remember? And besides... if it makes you feel any better about the decision, if we refuse then we'd be in violation of direct orders from our supervisor. We WERE appointed as SeeDs, after all."

Sharon snorted and pulled away, grinning despite herself. "Actually, that didn't make me feel better. It just made me feel more like shit. But still... I guess if we are going back, we should do this right." She got up from her chair and moved to her closet, where she opened a large black chest on the floor that held different odds and ends that couldn't fit anywhere in her room at the moment. When she emerged, she was holding a folded navy blue uniform with gold brocade.

"You have it with you!" Gina exclaimed in shock. "I thought you surely would've left that thing in the far recesses of your closet at home the moment you were able."

"Yeah, well... you're not the only one who carries a little piece of remembrance around with you." Sharon nodded to the necklace Gina always wore. Gina grinned and pulled it out from under her shirt, examining the contours of Griever on the polished silver surface. She never wore it out in the open, because she didn't want questions to be asked. Of course, she could always say she ordered it off of Ebay where there were countless other replicas of the same pendant floating around, but she always thought that would be an insult to the genuine origin of the specific one she wore.

Placing the uniform down on the edge of her bed, Sharon took a breath and opened her room door. Xu was sitting by the other end of the living room near her roommate's bedroom door, on the long blue couch that lined the wall. She looked up curiously as the two girls emerged. "Have you decided?"

"Yep. Let's hope I don't regret it later. When do we leave?"

Xu stood. "As soon as possible."

"Oh. So in other words, right fucking now. Great. Well, let me uh... prepare my shit, then." Sharon went back into her room and started looking for her small purple rolling duffel.

Gina smiled at Xu, who returned it with her own shy smile. _Gotta love awkward parties. _"So... how have you been?"

Xu laughed for a moment, taking Gina by surprise. "I'm sorry, no offense... it's just so funny to me that you'd ask that, especially since it's been a very long time and we barely knew each other in the first place. However, I appreciate your concern. I've been doing okay. Life at Garden hasn't seen much excitement since Ultimecia was defeated, so me and some of the remaining senior SeeDs help out the new recruits any way we can. Enrollment has been so high that it's impossible for the people in charge to handle it all on their own like they used to." She looked down at the pendant Gina was wearing. "The commander gave that to you, didn't he?"

Gina's eyes widened and she blushed. "Um... yes, right before Sharii and I left to come back home."

Xu gave her a knowing smile. "Ah... well, if he knew, I'm sure he'd be glad to know that you kept it, even if he never came around to telling you. There has been rumors floating around that he and a girl named Rinoa Heartlily have been seeing each other, but if you ask me, I don't think it's anything serious. Just to let you know."

Gina just managed to blush harder while nodding. _My god, is this matchmaker? Is it really that obvious that I like him? I wonder how many people know this... I hope random people haven't bugged Squall about it._

Sharon re-emerged from her room, her things packed. "Okay, all set to go." She shouldered her Final Fantasy VII messenger bag. "By the way, Xu," She held up a piece of slightly wrinkled paper. "You left this on my bed in my room. I don't know why, but I wouldn't join a sorority. It's totally not your thing."

Xu's eyes widened and she suppressed a giggle. "Oh no, you can just... throw that away. I wasn't considering it in the least, but I got dragged into listening to this girl babble on and on about it to me and I couldn't really leave."

"Ah, okay." She tossed it into her wastebasket. "I wouldn't know, since I've never been recruited. I don't think I'm their type, ha! But anyway... we have to stop off at Gina's place for a minute to get her stuff, then we can head on out. It's in the building next door."

Leaving room 305, the trio walked down the long hallway and down one of the shorter corridors until they came to a flight of stairs that led down to one of the back entrances to South A. Once outside, it was just another short walk until they came to the closest back door to South B, and Gina pulled out her key card so they could enter. Xu requested that she stay outside with Sharon's bag while she waited for them to return, and Gina and Sharon started up the flight of stairs to the second floor.

"Oh SHIT!" Sharon nearly fell down the stairs at Gina's explicative; it was HER job to do all of the cursing, not Gina's. "What's wrong?"

Gina shot her a terrified look. "How in the hell am I supposed to just walk out of that room with three curious roommates that will certainly ask why the hell I'm leaving without any notice?"

Sharon's face faltered. "... fuck. Umm... well... we could just say... grah, screw it. Just tell them the truth."

"The TRUTH? Oh yeah, like the truth is really all that believable. Didn't we swear not to tell a soul anyway?"

"Well, what do you suppose we do, then? You can't say that your dad is coming to pick you up to go home for the weekend, because you're currently scheduled to work tomorrow evening and you didn't notify Steph or any of your managers that you were taking off. You can't say that you're staying over at my dorm for the weekend, because you wouldn't leave with your shit and they'd all feel really shafted that they weren't invited. I don't see any other alternative at this point in time."

Gina closed her eyes and heaved a great sigh, defeated. "I guess so... but what if they don't believe us?"

"Sorry to say, but that's not our problem. We're leaving whether they believe where the hell we're going or not. We'll have time to explain when we get back, which won't be more than ten minutes or so on their clock, so they won't have time to think about it much."

Not exactly thinking it was the best course of action but having no choice but to go along with it anyway, Gina continued her trek up the stairs where she pulled open the door from the stairway and made a sharp right to the first door on the end of the hallway. Swiping her keycard and punching in her 4-digit code, she hesitated for a minute before entering.

"NIGGA IN THE HOUSE! HIDE YOUR SHIT!" Sharon shouted her usual hello, as Gina shot her a look as she made her way to her bedroom door. The loud girl shrugged as if to say "what? not like we can sneak in and out."

"O noez! Whatever shall we do?" Steph emerged from her room, smiling and rushed at Sharon and gave her a monster hug in which she refused to let go despite Sharon's efforts at getting loose. "Piggy missed you."

"I don't know why, I haven't been gone for more than an hour or so." She finally pried herself loose from the blonde and peeked her head into the first bedroom. "Sup, Megh? Still looking up hawt asians?"

Megh laughed and stretched back from the desk where her laptop was situated. "Sort of. I got frustrated since I couldn't find one that matched the look I was going for so I could use it for a decent PB for the X-men RP, so now I'm just downloading many sexy pictures of Rain. And there are a LOT."

"Sounds drool-worthy. I'ma have to check them out later. Where's Yunie?"

"Trying to make Photoshop work the way I want it." Jae called from her place in her room. "I've been trying to blend this picture for about half an hour now, and it just won't turn out right! I'm going nuts."

"That's why I still use Paint Shop Pro. At least that program is simple." Sharon leaned on the circular kitchen table, and Steph looked around for a moment.

"Hey, where's your friend... Xu, right? I thought you were going to be bringing her over?"

"Yeah, well... there's been a slight change of plans." Sharon moved from the table and flopped down on the couch. "We have to head out in a few."

"Head out?" Steph's brow furrowed in confusion. "Head out where?" She turned her head as Gina's bedroom door opened and she stepped out with her bright yellow rolling book bag.

"Umm... someplace that shouldn't exist by all rational means." Sharon offered, standing up suddenly. "I gotta change. brb." She walked into the bathroom that Jae and Gina shared and closed the door behind her, leaving Gina in the room with a very confused Steph.

_Great. I hate it when she does that. _"Umm... this is going to sound really crazy. Like... really crazy. And we don't even have time to really tell you everything, either."

"Wait a minute, what's going on?" Jae came out of her bedroom and looked at Gina. "Wakka-san? You're leaving?"

"Yes... to... uh..." She breathed. "Okay, look. What if I told you that Sharii-chan and I were holding back something really big from all of you, but for a really good reason?"

Jae raised an eyebrow. "Well, I suppose if it was for a really good reason... but what is it?"

Gina breathed again. "Final Fantasy VIII exists. Like, in real life. As in, Sharii-chan and I have to go there right now."

Silence.

"Wait a minute, what?" Steph asked. "That makes no sense. You're going to Final Fantasy VIII?"

"Umm... more like, the world in which Final Fantasy VIII exists. I know you guys don't know much outside of the game than what Wikipedia and Sharii-chan and I have told you, but you guys know enough to know of a place called Balamb Garden. Well..." Gina moved her gaze to Megh, who had also emerged from her room to see what all the commotion was about. "During our freshman year of college, before we knew any of you guys, we... ran into Squall, Zell, and Irvine on campus. Oh, and Seifer too. At first we thought they were cosplayers, until we discovered this portal that could take us from our world to theirs. We... helped them save the world, basically, and came back."

More silence passed as the three girls just stared at Gina as their brains struggled to comprehend what she said.

"Umm... I got this from Squall himself?" Gina offered, pointing at the Griever necklace. "I know, you could find any of these things anywhere on the internet, but believe me when I say this is the real one. I wish I could tell you more to convince you, but... well, outside of actually taking you guys there, I can't."

"... are you fucking kidding me?" Megh rhetorically asked.

"No, I don't think she is." Jae answered, looking at Gina in a new light. "Gina's many things, a paradox on top of it all, but she's not a liar."

"I KNOW Gina's not a liar, but how can what she said be true? Saving the world during their freshman year, and nobody asked where they had gone that whole time? I'm pretty sure you can't save it in a day." Steph countered.

"Actually, you can, thanks to interdimensional time rifts." Sharon answered from the doorway of the bathroom, dressed in her SeeD uniform. "The minute we cross worlds, time stops here until we return. Of course, nobody really knows that time stops over here, because time still remains seamless. So basically, we could be gone for months and nobody would really know it."

"So... you're going there now. With Xu, right?" Jae asked. "I don't know if anyone else knows this, but maybe it's because I was reading FFVIII fanfiction with Seifer in it because he's just that hot, and there was a character in it named Xu. I bet it's the same Xu we met today."

"... wow." Megh looked Sharon up and down. "That's the SeeD uniform?"

"Yep. It's actually kind of comfy. I can't say the same for the cadet uniform, though." Sharon pulled at the sleeves of her jacket a bit.

"Where IS this portal, anyway? How come nobody has ever seen or found it outside of you guys? Is it invisible or something?" Jae scrunched up her nose.

"Well... the portal actually closed the minute Gina and I came back through. It wasn't stable to begin with, really, and nobody really knows why it appeared and how it came to be that way. I think it's some kind of fate's fluke that Dr. Odine was actually able to replicate the portal in a machine so that Xu could come over and get us. It's not invisible, but it's well hidden. And you can only really see it clearly at night."

Nodding slowly, Steph spoke up next. "Why did Xu come this whole way just to get you guys? Did something happen?"

"Yeah. Something really fucked up. Squall and the others have disappeared one way or another, and evidently Headmaster Cid is having a conniption because the world is on the brink of some kind of global SeeD war or something like that." Sharon zipped back up her messenger bag and shouldered it. "Gina and I don't really know much about it, and Xu doesn't either. She was just under orders to get us to return to Garden to possibly help out. Oh, Gina, you might want to change. If we're going to be going directly to the Headmaster's office when we return, we probably want to be presentable."

As Gina took her uniform into the bathroom Sharon just left, Jae stepped back and plopped down on the arm of the couch, feeling a bit dazed. "Wow. I... don't know what else to say. I have a million questions, just as I'm sure the rest of you guys do, but it'd take too long for you to explain it all. I guess... I guess this WAS a good reason not to tell us, although I'm glad you guys did."

"Hey... question." Megh interjected. "Do they KNOW they're really a video game?"

Sharon laughed. "Actually, no, they don't. Gina and I jumped through a shitload of hoops to make sure they didn't find out while they were here at GV, let me tell you. I still think it's nothing short from a small miracle. I don't think it's a good idea to tell them now, either. I mean, think of the shock you guys are feeling right now. I think you'd have to triple that for them if we told them that we knew their entire life story from a video game that somehow knew their world existed. Not to mention Gina and I would have a helluva lot of explaining to do, since you're not the only guys who we held secrets from."

"Damn. Yeah, I can imagine. That's like finding out the Gundam Wing universe was real, and then telling them that they already exist in an anime."

Jae just looked at Megh. "I don't even want to think about that. This whole Final Fantasy VIII thing is hard enough on the brain. Although... it'd be kind of cool to know that Heero Yuy exists. And to meet him. And to hit that."

Gina came out of the bathroom then, buttoning up the last of her jacket. "Alright, then. How do I look?"

Sharon saluted her. "Very good, Stewart. Now let's get the hell out of here before Xu wonders why it's taking us so long."

As the two uniformed girls made their way for the door, they glanced back at their friends, who were still standing and sitting in the places that they left them with perturbed looks on their faces.

"I hope you guys won't still be standing there brooding by the time we get back." Sharon said.

Gina hit her friend on the arm. "I'm sorry, you guys. I wish... things were different, but... we'll be back soon."

"Hey, I know! Wanna come with?" Sharon joked, and Gina hit her harder this time. "OW! What?"

"That's mean, Sharii-chan! You know they can't follow! Xu would have a fit!"

"No, it's fine, really." Steph waved her hands while shaking her head vigorously from side to side. "You two go on ahead. If what you said is true, you'll be back within the hour anyway, and we can talk more then."

"But I kinda wanna see Seifer..." Steph shot a look at Jae, who smiled sheepishly while cringing. "What? I'm curious, I'll admit it! But we'll wait until you get back."

"Good. It's safer that way, believe me." Gina opened the door, and the two walked out.

Xu looked over her shoulder when Gina and Sharon came out of the doorway. "What took you guys so long?"

"Had to change. And come up with the excuse of a lifetime to tell Gina's roommates." Sharon said.

Xu looked over the two with a smile. "Nice outfits. I never thought I'd be the one feeling like the outcast. Shall we go?"

The trio of girls walked across the campus which was now darkening as the sun had set awhile ago, the only traces of light being on the far horizon where the sky was streaked with the brilliant colors of red and gold. When they came to the arboretum, they were very relieved to know that it was free of occupants despite the fact that the weather was still warm enough for people to lounge outside at night. They made their way across the large grassy clearing before coming to that fated spot behind a tangle of vines and overgrown grass, and Gina and Sharon stopped for a moment to take in their surroundings.

"Man. This is creepily nostalgic. I never thought I'd be doing this again." Sharon gaped, the light from the portal bouncing off of her glasses.

"Tell me about it. It's been too long." Gina smiled despite herself. She turned her head to look at Xu. "After you."

When Xu passed through soundlessly, Gina and Sharon looked at each other and made sure they held hands just like they did all those years before, and stepped over together.


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N:** You know, I've dug up the notebook I wrote a long time ago with synopsis' I was evidently smart enough to record of all of the fanfiction ideas I had in my head at the time. So that only means one thing; Sharii's not gonna stop writing for a LONG time until I've done everything I came up with. D: I'll be writing until I'm 50, and won't get paid for a damn thing, either.

* * *

The headmaster of Balamb Garden was just hanging up the phone with Nida's parents when there was a knock at his door. Rearranging a few papers on his desk, he looked up as the door opened, and the SeeD he just sent through the portal machine a few minutes before was peeking her head in his office. "Sir?"

Cid blinked and stood up. "Yes, Xu? That was rather quick... well, I guess I'll never get used to the way time passes, or should I say, doesn't pass. Did you...?"

The young SeeD opened the door fully and stepped aside as Gina and Sharon walked in.

"Hyne..." Cid stepped from behind his desk and towards the two young ladies standing in front of him. "I... almost don't believe it."

Gina smiled sheepishly and gave a half-shrug while Sharon snorted. "Tell me about it. You should've seen our faces just a few hours ago."

Smiling fully, the first time in what felt to him like an eternity, he stepped forward more and engulfed the two in a large hug. "I'm so happy to see you two again."

It took the two girls a moment, but they got over their awkwardness to return the hug while Xu stood just as out of place in the doorway, not really sure what to do next. Despite her efforts in getting the girls back to him safely, she was fully aware that her job was done and that she should return to whatever duties she left before embarking on the impromptu mission. Clearing her throat, she took a step backwards. "Sir, I'll just..."

"No, no, Xu. Please, stay. I promised you an explanation upon your return, and I can't think of the best way to do it rather than to have you here right now. You can have a seat right there... and it looks like we'll need one more chair." The headmaster turned around after relinquishing his hug on the girls. "Where's my furry assistant..."

As if on cue, a chair began traveling along the floor, being pushed by the fuzzy orange moomba. When it came to a stop in front of Cid's desk, Ravi took a minute to wipe his paw across his brow before coming across a scent he hadn't acquired in 4 years. Excited, the moomba made a squeal and jumped up and down before lighting his black eyes on Gina, who knelt down in front of him almost immediately. "RAVI!"

"GINA!" Like a cannonball, he threw himself into the arms of the one who saved him all those years ago from the harsh labor the guards put him through in D-District Prison. Gina clung firmly to her long-lost pet, and almost let loose tears of happiness. In the midst of everything, she had almost forgotten about her friend Ravi, and she was glad that there was someone else that greeted her warmly upon her return to Balamb Garden.

"You're gonna get fuzz all over your uniform, dude." Sharon joked, sitting down in one of the chairs next to Xu. "Not like you really care, right? Ha!" She rested the back of her head on the chair and looked around the office, which she was pleased to note hadn't changed a whole lot. "Man. This is so tripped out. And I've said that at least 10 billion times since I realized we were headed back here."

"I can understand. First and foremost, I give you my greatest thanks for answering my call. I was hoping that the machine would work, and that Xu would end up at the right spot, and overall, that you two would still be at the same place."

"If you waited another half year, we wouldn't be." Sharon stretched out. "Graduation is finally gonna be upon us."

"Oh. Well, congratulations."

"Ugh, not really. The real world is a helluva lot scarier. But... let's just cut to the chase; you didn't bring us here to have tea and crumpets and ask us how our lives have been, unfortunately. We got the lowdown from Xu, and all I can say is that it looks like you all are pretty fucked. How did all of this happen?"

The headmaster heaved a weary sigh as he took his place on the other side of his desk in his plush armchair. "I'm not exactly sure. In terms of the problem that is addressing Balamb, Galbadia, and Trabia Gardens, it baffles me to no end, but it came up so suddenly that I refuse to think that this is just a coincidence. The only problem was, I didn't exactly know what I was looking for, so I commissioned the only SeeDs I knew that were capable in the midst of crisis to undergo a mission that was blind, far more elusive than the one I just sent Xu on."

"Blind?" Gina questioned, getting herself off of the floor and taking the last available seat, placing the contented Ravi on her lap. "Meaning..."

"I didn't specify the criteria in which they were meant to look, so therefore they are searching for an answer they don't know how to recognize." Cid explained. "It's a hopeless mission, and I knew this, but I have unerring faith in Squall, Zell, and Selphie. I still do, despite the fact that they have been missing for about a month now."

"A month..." Gina repeated, casting her eyes slightly downward. "That's quite awhile. Have you found out the last possible place they were sighted?"

Cid shrugged. "Unfortunately, no. With things getting more and more chaotic, I couldn't risk sending inexperienced cadets out to look for lost celebrities, and the few dependable SeeDs I have left are trying to keep the order here as best they can. I'm truly stuck between a rock and a hard place."

Sharon thought for a moment. "Well... alright, screw that for a second. What about Quistis? We heard she disappeared, too. Do you think she went looking for them?"

"No, as her disappearance was before I scheduled that mission, even though at the time no one thought of it as anything but odd that she would miss a day of work without at least calling in."

"And we know Irvine's at Galbadia." Gina put in. "With everything going as crazy as it is around here, it's understandable why you can't get in contact with him."

"Although you'd think he'd be fighting tooth and nail to run away." Sharon griped.

The headmaster chuckled. "Under normal circumstances, I do believe that he'd be back here at the complete disobedience of his headmaster, but these are different times." His expression mellowed. "Headmaster Martine has gotten quite zealous over the past few years, trying hard to rebuild his Garden into the glory he believes it deserves. Even though I don't want to think much on it because it troubles me so, the truth is that he might be the only one out of the three Garden headmasters that is reveling in this war that has encompassed us all. To him, this could be a way to build morale for his SeeDs which could lead to him being the primary leader in this race none of us knew we were entering."

"... the prick." Sharon spat. "I never liked him anyway. But... I guess I can't go up in there and kick his ass, and that's not our priority right now... is it?"

"No, which brings me to why I called you here." Cid stood and turned his back to them, looking out of the large window for a few moments. "I am going to send you on a reconnaissance mission, the very same mission that I sent the other three on. The only difference is that above all else, you will be looking for information leading to the disappearance of those three, and if at all possible, retrieve the original team. I... feel like I'm making a grave mistake to add to my list of failures that have certainly piled up recently, but I honestly do not know what else to do. I ordinarily had figured that everything was lost until I remembered you two, yet just you being here offers me a glimmer of hope that I had been missing for a very long while."

Gina sat in her seat and nodded slowly, already coming up with possible plans to help find Squall and the others. Sharon, on the other hand, sat forward with a strange look on her face. "Yeah, what the hell is that piece of shit in the basement? Looks like Stargate SG-1 down there or something like that." Almost slapping herself for the TV reference, she shook her head. "Never mind, don't ask what Stargate is. I'm just basically wondering how the hell you did it."

Headmaster Cid smiled his own sheepish smile as he turned back around to face them. "The truth is, I didn't. Well... I suppose that's only half true. The creation itself is one of the Dr. Odine, and he had been formulating it in secret ever since Gina was in his care all of those years ago in Esthar, awaiting deployment to the base near the moon."

Sharon's mouth dropped open. "WHAT? THAT CIRCUS FREAK EXPERIMENTED ON GINA?? I swear to god, I'm killing him..."

The other girl just tilted her head in curiosity. "Really? I didn't know how long I was out for, but what did he find out?"

"He noticed by just a scan of your vitals that your energy was on a completely different frequency than what was normal. Of course, he originally thought that it was simply because of your newly acquired sorceress powers, but upon further analysis, he realized that it wasn't the case. I'm sorry if I cannot get any more specific, but I'm only brushing the surface of what Dr. Odine has tried to explain to me, and even I can't say I completely understand the undergoings of the scientific realm. Moving on, he decided to duplicate your unique frequency in his computer to compare it to those of regular humans, sorceresses, and even animals. He didn't get much into his experiments into much after you two had left for your own world, but when he did, he eventually became to discover that your specific frequency was able to be channeled in a device to open a rip in our world."

"... wow. So he basically used my molecular or whatever you call it energy in a machine to duplicate the portal?" Gina just sat there and blinked for a moment. "I have to say, I'm pretty impressed."

"Hell, I feel kinda shafted." Sharon put in, a finger to her chin. "If I had known that creep was smarter than he looked in the first place, then we could have been home a helluva lot faster."

"Yes, well, he wasn't sure what he had stumbled upon, but it was me he called the moment he came across his discovery, despite the fact that it was three in the morning when he did so. I wonder if that man sleeps at all... but, yes. I was very confused as to why the most famous doctor from Esthar would be calling me about, especially at that time in the morning, but as it turns out I was glad that he did. I was able to confirm what he had evidently discovered, and of course, he was off rambling about the possibilities and the implications it could make in the scientific society, and the many different worlds that could be lying parallel to our own. While he was off in his own delirium, I came up with an idea of my own that would not only keep him distracted from taking his new-found discoveries off into the world of scientific theory, and also would benefit the remaining part of our gang of saviors."

"Ah!" Xu exclaimed after being silent for so long, simply absorbing everything that was going on. "You had Dr. Odine build the machine and hide it in the MD levels of Garden, hoping to surprise the commander and the others!"

Cid smiled. "Yes, that is correct, Xu. It helped keep Dr. Odine focused while swearing him to secrecy on his accomplishments that could ordinarily have surely caused quite a ruckus in Gina and Sharon's world should he succeed, and if it worked upon completion, then I would have something to bring a little light back into the lives of the group. Right now, he doesn't know that his experiment has actually succeeded, as previous tests failed quite miserably. He was drawing much electrical output from Esthar's main plant during most of it, and unlike Garden and many other places, Esthar heavily depends on the energy that electricity provides them to basically survive. He couldn't keep causing random blackouts in different sectors of the city before people would have started to ask questions, namely the president, so I offered for him to reconstruct it here. I think I had good timing, looking back on things."

"Yeah... well, wait. What do you mean by that, exactly?" Sharon asked.

"Ever since its involvement in the battle with Ultimecia, Esthar has come out of the semi-legend it was once in for the many years following Adel's confinement. Many weren't sure that the city actually existed, and others were all too eager to move into its pearly gates. While it was good to increase tourism, it disturbed the isolationist peace that many of its inhabitants enjoyed for so long. At first, the president implemented mandatory lists of all the visitors to the city, hoping to curb the anger of his citizens without infringing on the rights of the outsiders, but even that didn't last long. The traffic was simply too high. That, and given the situation that threatens to overflow with SeeD, the president had to make the hard decision to permanently close Esthar's gates to any traffic whatsoever. Trade is the only thing that continues to pass freely from the city's borders, but even that has slowed down to almost a nonexistent crawl. Esthar is so massive and technologically advanced that it is completely possible for them to survive without the help of its neighbors, and I believe at this time many of the inhabitants are content with it being that way."

"Damn. Just... damn. Everything's going to hell in one way or another, it seems." Sharon trained her eyes to the ceiling for a minute, then altered it to look at her best friend. "What's the best course of action, G-fuu?"

Gina scratched the spot behind the ears of her moomba, causing Ravi to purr happily and nestle into her chest. "Well... there's a lot on our plate. Our primary goal is to follow the trail of Squall, Selphie, and Zell. But on top of that, we can't just ignore the disappearance of Professor Trepe, either. As for Irvine... I'm not quite so sure if we CAN do anything, as much as I want to do something. We might just have to wait that one out." She sighed. "Above all, there's a lot that we missed over the past 4 years, and I think we need to have a proper basis on this world so we don't go running into anything AS blind. Things like Esthar are probably just the tip of the iceberg of the possible political things that have come to pass."

Sharon made a face. "I fucking HATE politics. But yeah, I got you... and oh... shit. Uh, Headmaster?"

"Yes, Sharon? And please, call me Cid. You may save the formalities for special events."

"Uh, alright. Um, Cid... there's a small issue. I know we're still technically SeeDs... but we've been out of practice for four years. I DID take up martial arts about two years ago, but I can't say I'm anything like Zell at this point. My skills with the gun are probably shit, and Gina hasn't kept up her katana work, either. Now, this isn't to say that we're gonna go out kicking ass and chewing bubble gum or anything like that, but a bite bug would beat our butts at the level we're at right now. I don't think we can go on any kind of recon mission like this."

Cid nodded in reluctant agreement. "Understood. It would definitely be more hazardous to your health to go out there now. I suggest you take as much time as you need refining and relearning your skills in the Training Area for the time being. Nero Jenkins is still head of the weapons department, as I'm sure you haven't forgotten how to get there, and he will be very surprised to see you again after so long. I do trust him, so I will leave it up to your discretion if you wish to tell him exactly what you've been doing all of these years."

"Speaking of which..." Gina started. "How did the world take our, um, disappearing act?"

"Rather hard, at first. It took them a couple of weeks to figure out that you two were nowhere to be found and not just on vacation, and when they did, you should have seen the stories. Or maybe it's better that you didn't, since many of them got pretty ridiculous. After awhile, the public died down, as they did have five of their heroes left to idolize, and they figured you two were in hiding for a very good reason. They knew the world was finally safe, so there would be no need to look to anyone to save them from a danger like that again. Although I would imagine there are still a few people out there that would die to get your autograph."

"That's... going to make our mission a lot tougher to execute if we're still celebrities." Gina pointed out with a frown.

"That is true, but believe me when I say that you can get away with more than what you could have just two years ago. There are so many new recruits around all of the Gardens that you could go unnoticed outside of campus grounds as long as you don't wear the colors of your respective Garden, and you could equally go as unnoticed here as long as you stay IN uniform. After four years, no one really expects you to show up again, so take that into consideration. As long as you don't broadcast your arrival, you should be fine."

"Oh. So that means I have to be quiet. Fuck. That's gonna be hard." Sharon mused.

Xu cleared her throat. "May I present a suggestion? In terms of training, I can open up the Training Area for you at the late hours of the night so you may go in peace and not raise any eyebrows to anyone who might recognize you. During the day, you can spend your time either in your dorm that I'll set up for you, or in the commander's personal office."

Gina's eyes bugged out. "Why Squall's office?"

Xu blinked at her. "Because no one has been there since the commander left, and therefore would be the safest place for you to be outside of when you'll be sleeping or training. He kept that space to himself, as you can probably imagine, so no one really dares go to the end of that particular hallway unless otherwise summoned. The only ones who got away with doing otherwise were the people he personally knew. That, and it is a wealth of information you two can use to help get up to date. The headmaster, as much as I'm sure he'd like to continue to expound on lots of things, hasn't got the time to devote to your 'studies', and it would make him even more unavailable to those who might need him."

"Right. Well... I guess I'm down for it." Sharon got out of the chair and stretched. "So... what to do first? Trash Squall's office, crash at our new dorm, or scare the shit out of Jenkson?"

"I think we should go see Jenkson first and get our weapons squared away. We could get caught up in our research, and if you go to sleep you won't wake up till Hyne knows when." Gina ignored the pouty face her best friend gave her and stood up herself, placing Ravi carefully on the floor. "I'd like to start training as soon as possible, and that would mean tonight. So... Headma- Cid, would that be alright?"

"Of course. Whatever you decide to do, I have faith in it." He looked down to the moomba on the floor. "I'm sorry to say that Ravi has become the most indispensable hand I've had around my office for awhile, and I don't think you can chance being seen with him out in the open unless you raise many the eyebrow. However, I can allow you to have him when I'm done for the day, and he'll be more than happy to spend the nights with those he hasn't seen in a very long time."

Gina cheesed. "Yay! I mean... thank you, sir. Cid. Grah." She face palmed, and everyone laughed. "I just hope that we can help."

Cid smiled and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "I have no doubt that you can. Don't take it as a pressure to succeed, as this is a very impossible situation I've literally warped you two in. But just know that I take great comfort in just having you two around once more, no matter what the outcome of this mission may be."

Sharon was awed by the confidence the headmaster of Balamb Garden held for them, and it immediately made her feel guilty of the way she had tried so hard to shove down those memories that happened during her freshman year. _If Cid's depending on us that much, then I'd be a shame to carry on with life after this all comes to a close. Well, at least I can say I've learned my lesson; shit will always come back around to bite you in the ass if you ignore it._


	8. Chapter 7

"Dude, this has got to be the most awesome thing ever. I can't get enough of it." Sharon fiddled with her new toy. "Esthar makes some pimpass weapons."

"Indeed. Look at how they revolutionized arrows!" Gina pulled a small capsule out of a little bag that carried many of the same things. When she pressed a very small button on the side, the capsule extended suddenly on either side to form the bottom and the head of the arrow. "This sure beats carrying around a spindle on your back."

The girls had just gotten back to their dorm from visiting Jenkins and telling the story of a lifetime. At first, they tried to explain their long absence by simply saying they were unused to the fame Ultimecia's defeat had brought them and went into hiding, but evidently that wasn't enough to satisfy the weapons stockholder. He simply raised an eyebrow after getting over the shock that two SeeDs he hadn't seen in years appeared just as casually as any new cadet looking for gear would show up to his desk, and dragged them into a back room where they wouldn't be disturbed and simply told them to spill it. After a trademark glance between Sharon and Gina was exchanged, they spent at least two hours laying down all that they could about where they had been the past four years, and how they had stumbled upon their world in the first place. All of it certainly shocked Jenkins, but ever since the whole Ultimecia time-compression fiasco, he figured anything was possible after that. He was glad that they gave a thorough explanation, since he admitted when he first saw them he was going to rip them both new assholes for abandoning their friends. He said that the fact that they were from another world certainly explained a lot of things, most notably that of Sharon's taste in music that nobody else in the world had evidently heard.

Gina was the one who suggested that they get new weapons, since it had been a long time since either of them had any sort of familiarity with their old ones, and she figured it would be even better to avoid any similarities with whom they were in the past in order to help keep their profile low. Sharon at first had objected, since the FFVIII world was probably her only chance to fire pistols without having to join the U.S. Army or some other law enforcement organization, but she agreed once she realized she could have her pick of any OTHER weapon. Going off of the latest one she was learning in Tai Chi, she asked for a staff. What Jenkins gave her was a new prototype imported from Esthar, which was made out of the iridescent blue material Sharon remembered seeing almost everywhere in the metropolis. It had the ability to extend from being the short staff Sharon was used to handling back at GV to a long staff that was at least 8 feet tall.

While the hyper girl was busy drooling over her weapon, Gina decided to go for something long-distance, and requested a longbow. She tested out the durability and size of many different bows before one seemed to fit her well, and Jenkins gave her a pouch full of the innovative capsule arrows. They were very hard to find anywhere else outside of Esthar, and with trade down just as Headmaster Cid had mentioned, they were even more rare, so Jenkins suggested that Gina save those special arrows for when they finally depart on their mission and couldn't risk carrying the bulkier predecessors from place to place. He also laughed at the irony that the weapon roles between the two girls were switched, seeing as Sharon was the long distance woman last time.

"Well, Yin and Yang do have to trade off sometimes, otherwise balance couldn't be maintained." Sharon had said as an explanation, pulling from her knowledge from her Chinese philosophy courses.

Now the girls had some time to kill before it was late enough for Xu to admit them to the training area.

"Can we nap, now?" Sharon begged. "If we're going to be up half the night getting our asses beat by monsters, then shouldn't we take the time we have now to relax? I didn't get to sleep during the day like I usually do, and I think I might crash soon."

Gina put her bow and arrows down on a nearby table. "No, Sharii-chan. I think now it's best that we use the keys Xu left at our disposal and see what we can dig up in Squall's office. That'd be the best way to kill our time without wasting it."

Sharon groaned in response, leaning back against a wall. "Aww, man! Since when was sleep a waste of time! You can never get enough sleep, believe me. It's better than sex." She tilted her head to the side and squinted slightly at her best friend. "You've been mighty focused lately, perhaps more focused than the Headmaster himself. We can't find them in a day, you know. This will take awhile until we even think about searching for them, let alone how long it's going to take to even find them."

"Yeah, but just because it's going to be awhile means that we have to use the time that we have even more carefully!" Gina looked up at Sharon. "I don't know how you can be so relaxed about all of this. This isn't a vacation. We're here for a reason, and the least we could do out of gratitude for not only our friends but to the Headmaster and everyone else on this planet is to do what we can."

The taller girl shrugged, half in defeat. "I might be fucked up in the head where all of this is concerned, I know. I don't think half of me really realizes what we're doing, and knowing my slow ass, I won't realize it until much later. Maybe that's why I can be so relaxed about it. But also, I know it doesn't do any good to get my panties in a bunch over it, because that doesn't make doing this job any easier. I just don't want you running yourself ragged trying to do too much at once, because what use will you be to anyone if you do that?"

Gina was silent for a minute. "I know... but... I want to find them, Sharii-chan. To me, this is like if any of Plan B went missing, and someone told me that I was their last hope of finding them. Our time together was ill fated and probably shouldn't even have happened... but it did. Now they're in trouble, and all I want is for them to be okay... probably more over this whole SeeD war thing that's happening lately. Maybe that's selfish of me, but... I will admit that I am biased. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have put my life on the line to defeat Ultimecia. I feel horrible to say it, since I'm sure all of the people who revel us as heroes probably think that I did it out of the goodness of my heart, but I didn't do it for the world. I did it for them." _For Squall._

Sharon nodded, also understanding the words that Gina didn't say out loud. "Well, don't think that I blame you. As much as I may seem detached about it all, I care about them all just as you do. I may have spent the last couple of years denying that fact, but I've recently come to the conclusion that you can't deny this kind of shit too long before it turns around and bites you in the ass. I... want to find them as badly as you do. Hell, I'll even go as far as to admit that if I could storm in Galbadia Garden Dynasty Warriors style and take that damned cowboy back, I would. And yes, the main reason I helped out with Ultimecia was because I knew we wouldn't get home unless we finished what we kind of started. As much as I want to strangle that goddamn Odine for fucking with your molecules or whatever for his own means, and also as much as I do wish we had known that he was working on something like that portal machine way sooner... if given the opportunity to go home sooner... I don't think I would have taken it. Despite whatever gripes or worries I would have had, I would have stuck it out with the orphanage gang. They're too damned cool to abandon, gamer's fandom aside."

The close friends sat in silence for a moment, left to their own thoughts. That had admittingly been the first time they had honestly discussed their feelings regarding those past events. After the day in which they initially returned, they tended to avoid that topic altogether outside of just swearing not to tell anyone about what had happened. Neither Gina nor Sharon could think about playing FFVIII, and Gina abandoned her once-favorite category on as well. In fact, it was very hard for either of them to return to anything Final Fantasy related in the years following the event, and they had only recently broken out of their slump when they met and got close to the members of Plan B. Because of Jae's overwhelming similarities to the Final Fantasy X heroine Yuna, Sharon had made herself sit down and play through the entire story for her from beginning to end. And even though it had been hard seeing Squall's likeness on the screen, Gina played through both Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts 2 for her newfound audience. Their re-induction into the Square Enix gaming world was slowly but surely coming to pass, thanks to the girls of Plan B.

"Well, if you had just SAID that the whole reason you wanted to hurry and get to Squall's office was because you wanted to snoop around and see what he'd been really up to this whole time, I would've been like 'hell yeah!' Instead, you tried to feed me this whole bullshit about 'familiarizing ourselves with the world before departing' that Cid bought. In fact, I don't even think Xu bought your crap, since she knows how you feel about everyone's favorite stoic commander, but she let it go because she's nice like that." Sharon just met the indignant look Gina gave her with a raised eyebrow. "Don't even front to me, girl. If I can't hide shit around you, then like hell you can bullshit me in turn. What?"

The girl in the red-tipped braids looked at her sheepishly. "Well, I was going to say it wasn't JUST Squall I wanted to know about; I wanna get into the business of what everyone else has been up to, as well."

"Oh. Well, that is acceptable. Let's go, then, and commence our snooping."

Moving through the halls in which both Gina and Sharon never really seemed to forget how to navigate, almost about as well as they could navigate their much more familiar GVSU campus, they set out for the direction of the commander of Balamb Garden's office, using the directions that Xu left them to find it. Even though they tried to be not so paranoid about being spotted and hounded, Cid's words proved to be true; no one gave much of a thought to the two girls walking together down the halls, despite the fact that Sharon's multicolored hair did turn a few heads.

"You might have to think about doing something with your hair, Sharii-chan." Gina noted, coming to a stop in front of Squall's office door. The hallway in which it was situated was almost deserted, and it really WAS out of the way for anyone. _I suppose Squall never outgrew his want for solitude._

"Psht, fuck that. My hair is my lifeline, thank you very much." Sharon said stubbornly, crossing her arms. "They'd better be glad this is toned down compared to my lime green extensions that literally glowed in the dark and made people think I drank way too much Mountain Dew."

Shaking her head with a smile, Gina put the key in the lock and turned it, coming into a very dark room. Feeling along the nearby walls for a switch, her fingers hit it and the shadowy contours were lit in the sudden light.

"My god. Four years pass and the man STILL doesn't know how to decorate." Sharon snorted, looking around after the door closed behind them.

Even though Gina had to agree, she still couldn't help but smile upon the plain decor of the room fondly. _It's just like how when I first found myself in the room Zell and Squall shared back in Swanson. _Outside of the basic things they supposed the room came with, the commander didn't do much else to personalize his space where he apparently spent most of his time. There was a large bookcase to one side of the medium-sized office space, which housed many books that ranged all sorts of topics. In the center of the room was a desk that was shaped vaguely like a crescent moon, which was topped mostly with official looking documents and other odds and ends that somehow all had a place beside his personal computer. In terms of decoration, there was a thin glass vase on the side of the desk that held what was once most probably a beautiful flower of sorts, but it had been so long since it had been watered that all that was left was a dried husk.

"Man, he had the penthouse suite or something." Sharon pushed open a door to the side. "He has his own bedroom in here, and a bathroom. I think he literally found the excuse he needed to live where he worked. And hey, here's his gunblade case... with nothing in it, of course."

Gina had found another way to entertain herself, and she stepped around the desk to the seat she knew Squall had spent many the hour going over all of the paperwork he had to do. A picture frame, the only one in that office, had caught her eye.

The picture was one that was taken the night of the large gala that had swept Balamb Garden following the defeat of the sorceress Ultimecia, and the ballroom was evidently right into the swing of partying the night away. The president of Esthar was standing off to the side with his two best friends, Kiros and Ward on either side of him, and Laguna was showing off his energetic smile for the camera. Beside that trio, Headmaster Cid had his arm around his beautiful wife, Edea, whose head was laid tenderly on his shoulder while she looked serenely at the photographer. In the front of all of the elders, Selphie and Zell both had their arms wrapped around the shoulders of Irvine playfully, while standing next to Quistis who was trying her best to be the presentable professor despite the very amused and contented gleam in her eyes. Squall was standing next to her, not really smiling for the camera but not exactly stoic either, unknowing to the bunny ears Sharon was sticking up in the back of his head while grinning like a Cheshire cat. Gina, being the shortest of them all, was crouched in the very front, her happiness evident in her face.

_Those were the times._ Gina couldn't help but feel the tears pricking at the edges of her eyes and she drifted into nostalgia.

"Whoa, when the hell was that taken?" Sharon peeked over her best friend's shoulder. "And ew, this was back when I didn't arch my eyebrows."

Gina put down the picture frame with a sigh. "Aren't you the vain one."

"No, not really. I still don't give a shit for makeup, but I think that's because I don't have the patience for it. I just really don't like my eyebrows when they're not done, because I do not like to look like an ape." Dodging the whack that she knew was coming after the self-degrading comment, she repositioned herself at the bookcase. "Well, I don't really know where to start looking for stuff, but I'll start looking through his book collection. I'll scream if Squall has porn hidden behind this shit, though."

"I highly doubt that, but go on ahead. I'll see if my so-called hacker skills can dig up something on his computer." Gina found the button to power on the CPU and waited until it booted up. Finding her eyes on the picture once more, she thought, _I'm glad he didn't forget us... but I just hope he didn't spend too much time worrying about how we were doing, much like how I was doing. _Seeing that the welcome screen asked for a password to continue, Gina was stumped. _Great. Not much of a hacker, am I? _She found herself fingering the pendant around her neck as a means of comfort, and on a whim, typed in "griever". When it worked, she couldn't help but laugh to herself.

"What happened?" Sharon called, looking up from a book she pulled down off of a shelf.

"Nothing, really. I'm just amused at the fact that anyone who knows Squall well at all could log into his computer, since his password isn't that hard to guess."

"Well, if that's the case, then no wonder he doesn't have to worry about people hacking into his files." Sharon retorted, going back to her reading material.

Looking at the layout that was very similar to her few encounters with the computers while playing FFVIII, she first went to the Garden main page and poked around on there just out of curiosity. _This is so wrong. I'm totally violating Squall's trust by doing this. _Pushing her embarrassment aside, she made a detour and clicked a link to Selphie's online diary and was greeted with the familiar design of daisies and other floral arrangements, giving credit to the girl's cheerful and spunky demeanor.

_Hi guys, and welcome to my online diary! Here you'll be able to find all sorts of things about me, Selphie Tilmitt, as well as a link to the Homecoming Committee's main site where you'll be able to sign up if you want... and you know you want to! And you know what else is great, is that my other friends have diaries too! Follow the links below to reach them, even though Squall is a meanie and locks most of his entries._

Raising her eyebrow at the text on the screen, she used the mouse to hover over each of the hyperlinks that Selphie listed on her front page. _Well, this seems to be the jackpot of information I've been looking for, but if Squall really did lock his entries, then I can't read them. I could try to log in to his blog, but I have no idea how to actually do that since it's not like the layout is as simple as LiveJournal or anything like that. I might have to start looking through his hard drives for possible copies of whatever he typed into his journal, but that could take forever. _She frowned at the well of information right in front of her yet out of her reach, as if taunting her. _Well. I guess that's what I get for trying to snoop in the first place._

Jerking her out of her thoughts was a knock on the door, and she and Sharon looked at each other like deer caught in headlights.

"Crap!" Sharon hissed. "What do we do? I thought nobody was supposed to be down in this part of the hall!"

Gina stood helplessly behind the desk. "I don't know. We could try asking who it is, but... I think it's best that we just stay quiet and hope that they go away."

The person on the other side of the door knocked again, and both girls held their breath until a familiar voice sounded through the barrier. "It's Xu. I went to your dorm to see if you wanted anything to eat, and when no one answered I figured this is where you'd be."

Laughing shakily at their near scare, Sharon opened the door. "Sorry about that; we were busy pissing our pants at our near discovery, or so we thought."

Xu chuckled. "It's fine, I understand." Stepping inside, she took a look around. "Have you found anything that could be of use to you?"

"Nope, no booze to be found." Sharon joked. "Okay, seriously, not really. We kind of just got here. Gina's busy trying to figure out how to work the computer, though."

"Oh, that reminds me. The Headmaster told me to give you guys this." Xu placed a scrap of paper with something scribbled onto its surface. "It's the administrative password that only he and the commander know, and it unlocks Garden files that are closed to the public. If you don't know how to get around the system, I can walk you through what I know."

Gina nodded. "Thank you. We can get to that after we get a bite to eat; I'm starving and I didn't even realize it. What about you, Sharii-chan?"

"When am I NOT hungry?" She put the book back in its place on the shelf. "Let's go get some GRUB! Oh, and did this joint learn what it is to have relish on their hot dogs, yet?"

Xu smiled apologetically. "No, we still have no idea what that is, I'm sorry."

Sharon scrunched up her nose. "Damn. Well, I'm hungry enough to eat just about anything at this point in time... save Fried Chocobo Wings... so let's get to the food. Although... it might be better for Gina and I not to eat in the cafeteria if we're really trying to avoid the public eye as much as possible." She thought for a moment, then brightened up. "Hey, I know! Xu, if you could do us a big favor and get us some food and meet us back at our dorm, you can chill with us for a bit and we'll answer all the questions you have about us, our world, and all of that jazz. Being confined to just a few places is going to get pretty boring, so you'll help make the time go by a lot faster. You'd just have to put up with us, though."

Xu looked at both girls. "Really? I mean... I've never actually been openly invited to hang out like that before."

Sharon just blinked at her. "What the fuck hell? That's stupid. How could anyone pass up an awesome chick like you? Well, their loss." She hooked her arm through Xu's and led her back to the door. "You're gonna learn what it's like to have REAL friends."

Gina shut down the computer and walked around to join the two girls, and almost laughed out loud at Xu's shock over Sharon's up-front behavior. _Do I ever remember that look. Sharii-chan did the same to me when we were in high school, and I couldn't get away. Not like I really wanted to, anyway. I was just happy someone cared enough about me to want to be my friend._


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N:** I started off hating this chapter, but then by the time I finished, I loved myself. In fact, I repeat that to mantra to myself when I think I've done a good job at getting things written down the way I want it to the point where even I have to pat myself on the back. I suppose that's vain... but I don't get these moments in my life too often, so I have to take them as they come. XD

* * *

Gina laid in her bed in her room in the dorm that she and Sharon shared, staring up at the ceiling. The moonlight was shining peacefully through the window that was right above the headboard to the bed, casting a shadow of the window along the far wall and parts of top of the room. She was fully aware that she should be sleeping, and she had actually tried, but restlessness had overcome her and her tiredness from training so hard in the Training Area. Sharon, in typical fashion, found no problems in returning to her own bed and collapsing down on the sheets, almost immediately in deep sleep upon arrival. Ravi, who was very happy to be able to spend time with Gina again, was snoring cutely in a corner near the end of her bed. He didn't notice that the other occupant had awoken, and that was quite fine with Gina, since she couldn't really understand why she was awake after all of the things she went through in that day anyway.

_And tomorrow, it'll all start anew. Get up, have Xu grab us breakfast, spend most of our time in Squall's office trying to find out as much as we can, have Xu meet us for lunch, wait until dark, train until we're busted and bruised, sleep, rinse and repeat. This has got to be the most boring schedule I have ever had in my entire life, even while working with the Lobby Shop. But it's necessary, I suppose. _In all honesty, Gina didn't know what she hoped to gain from the information resources she had at her disposal. But it did give her something to do in between eating and training and sleeping, since above all that was going to be required due to the monsters that roamed the earth. Not to mention if they were very unlucky and while en route to wherever they decided to go ended up in the middle of a SeeD brawl. In fact, Gina decided to shut her brain down on that topic right then and there. She didn't want to think about fighting actual people, SeeDs on top of that. She got pretty lucky when it came to the Galbadian Army all those years ago, but she also had her sorceress powers on her side where if she wanted to, she didn't have to kill or seriously hurt someone to get them to otherwise comply.

The subject hadn't come up as of yet, since it had only been the first day and they were mainly concentrating on the many uses of the new weapons they had acquired, but Gina was fully aware that she had lost all of her sorceress powers. Now that she thought about it, she had probably ceased to be a sorceress when she crossed back over the portal to her own world, since things like magic and sorcery didn't exactly exist back at her home. It was a relief in some ways, since she was all too aware of the power she held within her the whole time, especially after taking over Adel's portion. It was as if there was a never ending well within her, that was both enticing yet terrifying at the same time, since she knew if she went too far within that abyss it would consume her. It took such a great force of will to simply command tiny parts of it, since while being a sorceress one couldn't separate the "small" spells from the "oh shit we're all going to freaking die" spells. It was all part of that dark magical realm that, for most, was too dark to handle. Sometimes, Gina didn't know how she handled it as well as she did, and chalked it up to her will to simply do what she had to do and get home.

Of course, that just left her now to actually get to know the weapon she chose, and learn it well, since that would be her main way of protecting herself rather than just knocking people aside with her mind. She didn't mind it though; she still remembered all of Professor Trepe's instructions on how to draw and store magic, and how to do it before she literally stumbled onto the fact that she was a sorceress. Not to mention the art of archery was something Gina had been eyeballing for the past year, but she wasn't able to do it on campus since she didn't have a car to drive herself to the classes that were situated in an area at least a 10-minute drive away. _ Egh. When I get done with college, the first thing I'm doing is renewing my driver's permit and finally getting that license. Not being mobile will become even a larger problem once I get home and don't want to risk my life taking the Detroit buses. Ew._

All of her musing aside, she still couldn't get back to sleep. Staring at the ceiling may entertain her best friend for hours on end (as Sharon would say, "Doesn't take much to amuse an idiot!"), but she would go nuts if she didn't find something else to do if her body wouldn't allow her to slip into the slumber she knew she needed.

Sighing, Gina sat up. _This is getting me nowhere. _She decided to go down the darkened hallways of Garden, hope to god she doesn't run into a patrol officer somewhere, and go to Squall's office. She thought about waking up her best friend to go with her, but she decided to let the poor girl sleep. She hadn't complained of a nap ever since the first time she mentioned it, and she couldn't function well on anything less than 10 hours of sleep a night. Putting a robe on over her very comfy pajamas, Gina slipped soundlessly out of her room, and eventually out of the dorm.

It wasn't until she got safely into Squall office (she didn't even run into a patrol officer on the way there; it seems as though Garden isn't as worried so much about the students inside the grounds as the ones that could be OUTSIDE) that she realized she really had no clue why she was there. She was restless and didn't see sleep in her near future that night, but it didn't mean she was finding herself productive enough to actually do worldly research on the FFVIII realm. Her mind brought her back to the day's events, and her semi-success in hacking into Squall's personal computer. _Maybe I could try that again, only with the password Xu left me from the Headmaster. _Not really thinking of anything else better to do except perhaps go back to her dorm and try to get the sleep she needed, she sat down in the seat in front of the computer and waited for it to boot up after she had pressed the power button.

Instead of putting in Squall's password when the little box on the monitor popped up, Gina keyed in the new pass code she had received from Xu. Half doubting that it would work for some reason, she blinked in mild surprise when a new menu automatically loaded in front of the normal one that all the students in Garden could access. Moving the mouse to this plainer new menu, she discovered that all the administrative pass code did was unlock the directory to the entire database. Unfortunately, one needed to know exactly what to look for in all of the sub-menus and such, because the list could very well become massive and daunting. Gina was already doubting herself and what exactly could she hope to find in Balamb Garden's archives.

Her mind drifted back to her curiosity at finding Selphie's blog.

_Well, if what she wrote is true, then Squall uses his online journal, just not for public use. _Her eyes scanned the main directory as her heart skipped an excited beat. Maneuvering slowly through the directories and sub-directories of Garden's files, she eventually came to one that was listed in alphabetical order, last name first, of everyone who ever joined Balamb Garden's ranks. _Wow. _ Wondering if she could somehow find whatever this world's alternative was for the "find" command, after a couple of tries and many annoying error beeps the computer gave her in return, Gina just gave up and settled for doing it the old-fashioned way. She supposed she got lucky when it only took her 20 minutes of straight scrolling down the list of names before coming to "Leonhart, Squall".

Unfortunately, as informative as Squall's personal file was to read, it wasn't what Gina was looking for. _Damnit. How am I supposed to hack a blog if I don't know where it... _A light bulb went off in her brain that moment, and she minimized her current window to look at the regular one she was already semi-familiar with. Re-tracking her steps, she found herself back at Selphie's homepage. Taking mental note of the URL, Gina maximized her previous window and found the corresponding directory. _Bingo._

Now, Gina wasn't so sure why she thought that the only people who would have blogs would be the orphanage gang, but her face fell at the sheer amount of journals there were. Not only that, students (and even some staff) were apparently able to make up their own usernames; just like with any of the other journaling sites Gina knew about back home. _Crap, this could take AGES. What I wouldn't give for an interests search. _She was actually feeling sleepy then, mostly due to her shattered enthusiasm. _Ugh, I should just give up. It's wrong to do this, anyway._

She moved her cursor to the "X" of the window, yet paused indecisively. Gina waited a few moments before sucking in her breath, exasperated at herself and her curiosity. She started combing through the large list, clicking on anything that might represent Squall's elusive journal. Her first obvious choice was "griever", but her luck failed her this time; it was just the blog of a random cadet who was obsessed with someday finding and attaining the legendary GF. Journal after journal, Gina felt her eyes droop and burn with the strain, but she started using an old trick of hers to keep going, one that she always used when she was too stubborn to go to sleep until she finished doing what she had to do on the computer. Using her free hand to cover one eye, she rested one while allowing the other to continue relentlessly scanning the files. _However, if I keep doing this, I'll soon make myself nauseous._

After awhile, she really had to take a break. She estimated that she had only been at it for an hour, but with the lack of sleep weighing on her, it was getting harder to remain fully conscious. Rubbing her eyes and yawning a bit, she waited for her vision to clear up before going back to the hunt. Blinking at where she had left off in the directory, she focused in on a username, "leon".

_It'd be funny..._ Just for the hell of it, she clicked on the name and came to the sub-directory that listed all of the entries starting with the first one ever made in that particular journal. She clicked on the first link and started to hazily scan the contents.

* * *

_Selphie wants to kill me, I know she does. I don't think having a private journal is what she had in mind when I agreed to use the space set up for me. But I didn't lie; I AM using it. I just think it's stupid to broadcast your journal to everyone, as it kind of cheapens the meaning a bit._

In an instant, Gina's previous fatigue had melted away into non-existence with the adrenaline rush she felt at hitting the jackpot. _Wow. "Leon", huh? Seems like Kingdom Hearts was onto more than they thought. _She scooted the desk chair closer.

_I think having this journal will help me not to keep things buried in so deep. If I can get them out of my head and into something I can look at, then maybe I'd be able to voice what I mean a lot better than I currently do. I have no idea what I'd put in here though... Zell's is full of a bunch of one-liners and random things, Quistis alternates between using hers as a live lesson plan and an excuse to call out the students that she knows hangs onto her every word to turn in their homework on time, and Selphie just seems to put her entire life story out in the open. But, whatever._

_I wonder if Gina and Sharon have these online diary things. It'd be interesting to see what they put in them._

_

* * *

_Gina smiled. She barely updated her LJ as it was, even though she supposed she'd should be better about it, but her best friend had the time of her life bitching about something that pissed her off, random AIM conversations between her friends she thought were memorable, and anything else under the sun she felt she should update with. Looking at the time stamp of that entry and the next, it seemed as though even though Squall made his journal private he had long periods of time in which he didn't update. _But I guess that's understandable; he IS commander._

_

* * *

__Rinoa showed up today, just to say hi. The success at getting Timber their independence is still going without hitches. She thanks me profusely, although I don't see why. Part of the reason it succeeded was due to the fact that the Galbadian Army has no real credible standing with the public anymore. Although I guess having one of the people who saved the world personally come to your aid to liberate the town helped, too. But I don't see that as me doing anything; that's just fame doing what it does best._

_Sometimes I wish for those days where I actually had to prove myself to get anywhere in life. Zell would look at me cross-eyed and give me an earful if he knew I was thinking that; he looks at all of this as "our big break". But I think he's just finally glad he can get free hot dogs in the cafeteria._

_I know Rinoa likes me; I think that has been obvious since she dragged me out on the dance floor all those years ago at the ball. I just don't know what to do about it. I don't really understand what she sees in me, but I guess opposites attract, or something. Ordinarily, I'd blow her off, but... I've made one mistake too many in the past where that is concerned. I'd like to think I've come farther than that._

* * *

_Well, today has been interesting. Laguna invited us all down to Esthar so he could take advantage of the semi-break that he has. I have to admit, for an idiot he does a pretty good job at handling being the president of the largest city in the world, especially in these days when the city of Esthar has been the "it" thing as of late._

_Maybe I should be nicer. He IS my father, after all._

_Sometimes, I don't know what I think about that. I grew up thinking that both of my parents were dead, with Ellone and Matron being the only real family I had. But after all of the "dream world" phase-outs I had during that whole adventure long ago, I guess my subconscious brain connected events before I actually realized it myself. Or maybe I was just too busy shoving it aside. Either way, right before I disappeared into time compression, I knew. When we visited, I asked Sis if there was a time I could get Laguna by himself so we could talk. I think she knew what I was getting at even if I didn't say it, because her eyes gave it away. But she did make sure that she distracted everyone else in the group for an outing at one of their newest mega-malls while I sat down with Laguna._

_We talked about a lot. Mostly about my mother. I wouldn't have known that such a happy-go-lucky person as Laguna himself would hold that much regret over not being able to be there when I was born, and also as a result, when she died. I asked him why I wasn't named after him, then, since Raine obviously inherited his surname. He told me it was because the people of Winhill at the time were so distrustful of Galbadian soldiers in general, and also because they didn't understand the haste in which he left, that they gave me my last name in hopes that I'd never find out what a horrible man my father was to leave his wife during the time that she needed him most. He said that it took him such a long time to get over the self-hate he inflicted upon himself once he found out, and if it wasn't for Ward and Kiros by his side he wasn't sure if he'd ever get over it. Laguna was convinced that I was better off without him, and he threw himself even more into the reconstruction and growth of Esthar so he wouldn't feel like he failed at everything he tried to do in his life. In fact, if I hadn't taken the initiative to talk to him today, then he wasn't sure when he would get around to telling me._

_... I'm glad we talked. He says he understands if I'll never be able to call him "father", as he's well aware that he lost the privilege so long ago, but he still wants the opportunity to be in my life. I agreed._

_Who knows? Perhaps some day..._

_He also asked what was up with the disappearance of Sharon and Gina. He wanted to know where we were hiding them. I don't think I could have told him anything but the truth at that point, which did feel weird to say. I never laid all of that out before to anyone, not even to Ellone. He was... shocked, to say the least, but he was glad that I told him what was going on. There's only so much you can believe from the media. Then he asked me point blank about Gina. I was so shocked, I don't think I came up with much of a reply, but he let it pass for now at least._

_... I don't know about Gina. I don't think I know about much, anymore._

_I've spent enough time writing in this thing. I've got to get back to work._

_

* * *

_Gina just sat there in front of the screen, trying not to feel as shafted as she did feel right at that moment. She had always known where she stood when it came to Squall. Even though she couldn't exactly open up her own online journal and talk about the loneliness that she felt for much of those 4 years for a person that wasn't even supposed to exist in the first place, it was still there. She knew it was hopeless, but she also knew she couldn't deny it... so she had just tried her best to live with it until the day came where someone else would waltz into her life and take her mind off of a relationship that would never truly be. Stepping back and looking at it, she should feel lucky enough that she got as far as she did.

Taking a breath to calm down, she switched to the part of her brain that almost always knew best; the rational part. Gina knew that Squall had more issues than her about separation anxiety and attachment, so she shouldn't hold it against him. Not only that, but things were looking as close to "canon" as they should be for him; Rinoa was back in his life, at least. She should wish them both well.

Should.

_Regina Stewart. Stop being so growly and selfish over a man you haven't seen in four years. It's only your fault that you hadn't been able to let go like you should. Even Sharii-chan was able to get over Irvine even after she finally admitted to herself that she liked him, so it's very much overdue that you do the same._

_Even if Sharii-chan had the opportunity of multiple study abroad trips and a boyfriend back home, to boot._

Gina literally slapped herself at this point. She didn't think this was like her, at all. She had gone through some changes over the years, mostly dealing with being more open with her emotions instead of stuffing them down and ignoring them, but she really thought she was getting irrationally ridiculous. _Well... I AM running off of little to no sleep, so that could definitely be a reason for all of this. I should go to bed._

Instead, Gina clicked on one more entry.

* * *

_Rinoa and I went out to lunch today. If it wasn't for her, I think I'd still be here at my desk working on all of the things that need to be done to keep Balamb Garden moving smoothly. As it was, I refused as best as I could, but even I should know by now you can't fight the Timber Princess._

_Irvine asked me if we were an item. If it wasn't because it's him, I think I would have glared and walked off without a word. But I answered him honestly; I don't know what we are. I know it would make Rinoa happy if I made it "official", but it's not like I know what to do when it comes to dating anyone, anyway._

_I can't say that I'm doing this just to make her happy. I do like Rinoa. She's a sweet, attractive young lady that has certainly done some growing up over the years to smooth out the edges of her personality that used to grate on me so much. But I suppose it's also because I've done some growing, too. Through her, I can see what it means to be open and trusting. That I don't need to hide behind a mask all of the time._

_In that way, she reminds me of Gina. She was also able to show me those things, albeit in a different way. I just hope I'm not attaching myself to Rinoa because of that. I want to give her a fair chance._

_Speaking of chances... I did open up to her before about Quistis. I try not to do it anymore, since that's the only time I see parts of the "old" Rinoa come back up again. I guess in every girl there's a jealous streak, and I suppose she is well justified in it. I'm supposed to be concentrating on the relationship in front of me, not dwindling in the past of what could have been. She's also said that the only reason my mind goes back to Quistis is because I pity her. And... I can't dispute that, either. But I also can't just write her off that way, either._

_Maybe it's because ever since that day in Lunatic Pandora when Seifer said his piece, I haven't been truly able to look at Quistis the same. All of a sudden, all the things that were probably so obvious to Seifer all along are now obvious to me, even her attempts at normalcy to cover up how she still feels about me._

_But we still haven't talked about it. Neither of us knows how to broach that subject._

_

* * *

_"G-fuu?"

Yelping loudly, Gina nearly flipped backwards out of the chair she was sitting in. As it was, she almost toppled herself on the floor.

"Whoa, dude, sorry about that!" Sharon reached out to clasp Gina's arm. "Don't shit yourself! I should have announced myself as soon as I came in, but I didn't think you were THAT heavy into whatever you were reading to just not hear the door open! And you should really lock the office door so that nobody just wanders in like I did. Of course, no one else is crazy enough to be in Squall's office, but you never know."

Willing her heart to find its rightful place back in her ribcage, Gina swallowed. "Sorry, Sharii-chan. What are you doing in here so early?"

The purple and pink haired girl raised an eyebrow. "I think it's me that should be asking YOU that question. I wake up to go take a piss, and I notice that your bedroom door is open and you're not in it. Of course, I don't really fully comprehend these things until fifteen minutes after the fact, but when I did, I started freaking out until I figured the only place that you WOULD go is here. But insomnia is bad, believe me."

"What time is it?"  
Sharon walked over to the small bedroom in the office and opened the door to point at the slowly brightening sky. "I have no idea how long you've been in here, but we have about an hour before Xu delivers our breakfast."

_Oh... shit. I've been up basically all night?? _"Wow. I should, um... take a shower and get dressed." Hastily closing all of her windows and shutting down the computer, she rearranged her robe around herself tighter as she stood up and gave a big yawn.

"Find anything interesting?"

Gina gave her best friend a sideways glance. "Oh, yes I did. But I'll tell you later."


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N:** Wow, I just found out that General Caraway actually does have a first name, and it's not the one I gave him in the prologue, either. D: O shi-! Evidently, his first name is Fury. But I think that sucks balls, and that he looks more like a Nathaniel, anyway.

* * *

"Oh, so hold up." Sharon put down her cup of fruit punch that wasn't exactly what she expected, but it wasn't half bad, either. "You mean to tell me you were up all night successfully reading Squall's deepest and darkest secrets?"

Gina blushed. It sounded even more wrong than it already was the way Sharon put it. "Uh, yeah, sort of."

Sharon nodded her approval. "Good going. I knew you'd find some use of that administrative password Xu gave us, because I swear to god, if it was up to me I would've been like 'what the hell you want me to do with this shit?'" She took another gulp to finish off the cup and tossed it in the trash bin next to the desk. "Unfortunately, reading LJs don't count as actual work being done. But no worries! You continue your hack fest, and I'll do what I can digging up some stuff that could help us when we actually get to finding the lost commander and his crew." She went back to the bookcase she was yesterday and pulled out the book she was previously looking at. "This one in particular is pretty interesting, at least to me."

Gina tilted her head to the side. "Really? What's in it?"

"Initially, a lot of boring stuff. A lot of stats and updated history regarding the three Gardens. But, I did find out some cool tidbits that might be worth it to know. Trabia's seem to come up in the world; after it got blown to smithereens during that whole missile base accident four years ago, a woman named Ela Rostmalhov largely contributed to the reconstruction of the garden, and consequently became the new headmaster when everything got up and running again. What amused me is that this woman totally has a Russian name or some shit. But anyway, it seems like they're known for their diplomacy over everything else. They usually get away with the least casualties when it comes to missions on either side, so if someone doesn't want to really get into a whole lot of shit but wants a solution anyway, Trabia comes in and helps deliver a peaceful compromise.

Then I got around to the Galbadia section. They're the hardcore bitches out of the three, but I guess that's expected seeing as though Martine is the headmaster. If you want something done quickly, then they're the people you look for, even if their methods usually involve kicking the shit out of the opposition until they comply. Because of how hard Martine's been working to regain his Garden's lost glory, they are arguably the cream of the crop when it comes to SeeDs, even though since that whole fiasco dealing with the sorceress temporarily taking over their base all that time ago not many people are willing to give them the credit. Bet that pisses Martine the hell off, HA! But still, they tend to focus more on specialists in specific areas, which is something neither Trabia nor Balamb has at this point in time, so they do have an upper hand just looking at the stats.

As for Balamb... well, despite the new-ness of Trabia and the badass-ness of Galbadia, Balamb still happens to be number 1 overall. Some of that is due to the fact that it is now known as the base that trained the SeeDs who ended up saving the world from that crazy bitch Ultimecia. It's also due to the fact that the person who founded SeeD in the first place is the headmaster. My personal guess is that it's because of all the enrollment from the people who are too intimidated by Galbadia or can't afford the tuition or remoteness of Trabia, yet still wanna be a SeeD anyway. That, and the male to female ratio is more or less even, here. In Trabia, females outnumber males 3 to 1, and with Galbadia the males outnumber females 5 to 1."

"So basically, Balamb's the middle ground between them. Somehow, I'm not so surprised." Gina mused. "But that's a lot of good information you found, Sharii-chan. We certainly didn't know that."

"Oh, and there is more." Sharon flipped open to a specific page. "And this could certainly help us on the road to see who is who. Each Garden has their own colors. We know already what they are for Balamb. We have the navy blue with silver trim for the cadet uniforms, and the navy blue with gold trim for the SeeD graduates. For Trabia, their cadets have a very very light gray uniform - it's almost white, but not quite - with a darker gray trim. When it's a SeeD, they're upgraded to white with black trim. I bet that helps them blend in with all of those snowy mountains up there. Ooh..." Sharon turned another page. "It seems like Galbadia got all fancy on us. Their cadets have the dark gray uniforms with maroon trim, and that actually used to be their uniform for SeeD. But now, if you're just a basic SeeD, then you're graduated to a black uniform with maroon trim."

Gina raised an eyebrow. "'Basic' SeeD? What is this, DDR? Do they get upgraded later to Trick and then Maniac?"

Sharon laughed. "Sort of, if you think of it that way. Remember when I said that they deal in specialties? Well, depending on what you 'major' in, your braid trim changes color. They're the only Garden thus far to establish ranks within ranks, of sorts. I guess it'd be like giving Squall a special uniform because he's a gunblade master, then giving Zell a special one because he's a martial artist, so on and so forth."

"Hmm... that's... really interesting." Gina let loose a sly grin. "So... what's the braid color for a sharpshooter?"

Sharon shot Gina a look before closing the book. "Dark green."

"You came up with that pretty fast."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? You hack into Mr. Emo's diary yet I get flak for actually getting important information? The world must be coming to an end."

Gina just laughed while moving back to the computer, which had booted up completely by then. "I'm just messing with you. I think I've been in a weird mood ever since I didn't get enough sleep this morning."

"Yeah well, whose fault is that?" Sharon smirked as she replaced the book. "Hey, sweet! A book about Chocobo Breeding!"

The shorter girl wrinkled her nose. "Really? Now how the heck is THAT pertinent?"

"Well, you never know! Might need an army of chocobos one day." She flipped open the book and began to read. "Or maybe I just really want to know how to get that Gold chocobo."

"Sharii-chan, that's in Final Fantasy VII."

"I knew that."

Chuckling to herself, Gina quickly navigated the menus to get back to the directory that housed Squall's entries. _I'm getting the hang of this. After I'm done, I swear I might just take a nap until later on tonight when we have to train, because I'm starting to feel a bit loopy._

As Sharon indulged herself on the mating habits of chocobos, Gina fell back into the space she was earlier that morning where only Squall's entries existed. Most of them were about how his relationship with Rinoa was going, and him struggling with uncovering whatever his feelings were concerning Quistis. According to one entry, he almost confided to Laguna about it, but he thought against it when he remembered his hilariously sad attempts at trying to talk to the beautiful pianist, Julia. He did, however, talk to Irvine about it, but the only advice the sharpshooter had was for Squall to stop thinking so much and just be with whomever he wanted to be with.

As a result, Squall and Rinoa's relationship started to get rather strained. Rinoa became quick to anger whenever she noticed that there were things that Squall wasn't telling her, thinking her progress in making Squall open up was regressing. In reality, Squall was trying not to hurt Rinoa, thinking that he didn't know exactly what he wanted anymore, and if he was ever really going to be cut out for a relationship anyway. He also felt as if one more awkward moment went by between him and Quistis, his head would implode.

Overall, Gina felt so sorry for the Balamb commander. She didn't know relationships could be so complicated. For once, it seemed as though most of it wasn't caused by Squall's inability to open up easily, it was just due to circumstance and things in the past that never exactly got cleared up. In a typical SeeD fashion, he began over analyzing his feelings, trying to come to a concrete conclusion on his emotions. At every turn, there was a new theory, a new wrench into what he thought was a solution, and from what Gina could discern from text, it was slowly driving him insane. Her heart ached as she longed for the opportunities long past to have been there to maybe help him through it all, to help figure himself out. But she faintly thought that it was perhaps best that she wasn't there; at this point, she would have been yet another woman in his life he wouldn't know how to deal with.

Half torn between wanting to read more just to see if there was something in his life that would turn around and just clicking the page off altogether because she couldn't take the angst anymore, she found herself automatically clicking the next link anyway.

* * *

_I think I have committed the most grave fuck up in my life to date. It's funny, since I thought I was done making those a long time ago. But I guess history repeats itself, regardless._

* * *

Squall carefully scanned the remainder of the legal paperwork that he had been working on for the past couple of days, decided it finally passed his inspection, put a stamp on it and set it in his "out" box. With that, the work for the day was finished, and he was free to do whatever he pleased.

It would have ordinarily been a relief and an opportunity to go someplace with Rinoa, but the way things were looking for him as of late, he preferred more work to be done so he could take his mind off of the whole mess his relationship was currently in. _ I just wish I knew how to fix it, but it seems like all we do now is fight over something stupid. Why are women so complicated? Hell, why am I so complicated? _Hyne knew he spent enough days thinking, re-thinking, and thinking some more in hopes to figure himself out. Now he was at the point where if he thought about it any more, he would throw himself out of the nearest window.

_I think it's funny how people see me as the man in control of everything, but as well as I can help run this Garden along with Headmaster Cid, I can't even make heads or tails of my own life. _Sighing deeply, he rested his forehead against the cool surface of his desk and simply appreciated the feeling of it.

He wasn't in that position for long before there was a knock on his door. Holding back another sigh, he took a moment to raise his head and arrange himself the way the commander of Balamb Garden should look. "Come in."

Quistis steadied her features before entering the office, holding a manila folder full of papers that she received from Cid just fifteen minutes ago. She had been honestly thinking if she could put off delivering it until tomorrow, until she went through the usual realization that she was only going to procrastinate due to the fact that it involved seeing Squall. So, of course, she had given herself a mental lashing and steeled herself to do what she had to do. She was a SeeD, and a professor to boot, and she knew how to act professionally. Quistis wasn't a woman to let her emotions prevent her from doing what she needed to do.

It didn't change the fact that it was getting harder for her to shield her emotions. Ever since Seifer called her out, she dreaded being alone with Squall, dreaded the one conversation that both of them were damn good at avoiding. She really didn't want to talk about it. She was trying so hard and doing so well at burying those feelings for good, especially since Rinoa had come to the forefront of his romantic life. She had even tried her hand at friendship with the dark-haired beauty, but it hadn't worked out too well. The two women didn't reduce themselves to cat fights in the middle of Garden's hallways whenever they passed, but nonetheless they preferred not to be in each other's company for extended periods of time.

Ironically, most, if not all of the hostility was from Rinoa's side. It was funny for Quistis to acknowledge that, especially when she remembered seeing the girl in the short yellow dress succeed in snagging the SeeD out on the dance floor. It was something the young professor could only dream of doing, and with the combined knowledge that Rinoa was a guest to the ball only by being the date of Seifer Almasy, she had found herself both red with fury and green with jealousy. _So, I guess one gunblade master isn't enough for her, _Quistis remembered herself thinking that night. But thankfully, time and age allowed her to grow out of her jealousy. Instead, she drifted into a reluctant acceptance about her unrequited love, and she learned to mask what she couldn't outgrow with relative ease. She was even able to find herself happy when Squall and the new recruit Gina began to grow closer as a result of all of the events leading up to Ultimecia's defeat. Quistis' shock at the revelation that Gina wasn't from their world was mostly directed at the fact that Squall had allowed himself to open up to a person who would inevitably end up leaving him, knowing it the whole time.

But it was easier when Squall used to be ignorant of her internal plight. She didn't know whether it was because of a newfound paranoia, but every time she looked at him, she felt his eyes boring straight into the very things she tried so desperately to hide. _Hyne, just let me get through this day._ It was a familiar mantra to the professor by then.

"The Headmaster wanted me to drop these by you. He said it didn't matter when you got to them, since he knows you were just working on a stack that he gave to you a week ago. Just whenever you found the time."

Squall nodded briskly. "You can leave it on my desk. I just finished the papers you were referring to, actually, so if you wouldn't mind..."

"I'll make sure they get to the Headmaster as soon as possible." Quistis finished and accepted the request she knew he was going to make of her, and gathered the large pile that was situated in his "out" box. While she busied herself with that, she chanced a glance up at Squall. His crystal blue eyes were detached and slightly hazy, signaling that Squall had regressed very deep within his mind. She was all too familiar with that look, but she had noticed it more lately, and with the slight circles under his eyes, she was concerned about his health. She knew it could be because he was working too hard, but she also suspected that it had to do with his relationship with Rinoa. Quistis wanted to know what was going on, but she didn't dare touch that subject with a ten-foot pole.

"Well. Is there anything else you'd like me to deliver?" Quistis asked politely, making Squall snap out of whatever reverie he was in and blink as if noticing she was in the same room as him for the first time.

"No. That will be all, thank you."

Giving a nod, the professor gathered up the papers and made for the door, but she paused out of what she thought was her better judgment when her free hand touched the doorknob. Not really knowing what to do, she took a deep breath and turned back around to face the desk. "Squall, is there anything you'd like to talk about?"

There. She said it. She figured it was about time that someone gave a cue, since it was getting painfully obvious that she couldn't hold out much longer if things continued the way they were between them.

The commander trained his gaze on her. _What drove her to ask that question? I must look as bad as I feel. _The only other person he knew that was a part of his circle of friends that would have asked him like that was Irvine, but a couple of days before he was made to return to Galbadia Garden much to the gang's disbelief and distress. He noticed that instead of averting her eyes whenever he directly addressed her, Quistis had chosen to meet his gaze quite stubbornly. Almost absentmindedly, he noted the way her new hairstyle complimented her. A little while after they had defeated Ultimecia, Quistis decided it was time for a new look. Her hair was still it's original length in the front, but was cut to an angular bob around the back, the shortest layers curling slightly at the nape of her neck. Whoever had done the style also took the liberty to layer it, so that whenever Quistis turned her head or walked briskly, her blonde hair bounced and swayed with her.

Everyone had loved it, especially Selphie, who took no time in running her hands through the new style. Squall had to admit now that he liked it a lot, although at the time he couldn't help but somewhat lament the loss of the rest of her hair. He'd always been curious to see what it would look like when it wasn't bound up in a clip in the back of her head.

Snapping himself back to the situation at hand, Squall answered. "Not really."

Feeling herself overcome with both relief and disappointment at his reply, Quistis nodded slowly and turned back around to leave.

"But I will anyway... if you're willing to listen."

Quistis turned back towards him, not able to hide her surprise. "That's what friends are for, Squall."

A little bit of something flickered in his eyes at that moment, but she didn't have time to decipher it before he stood up and started pacing, his right hand catching the hair on the top of his head in a fist. The words came out slowly and uncertain at first, but once he allowed all of it to unfold, it wasn't easy to stop. Quistis just stood and listened to the commander of Balamb Garden empty his heart out to her regarding his troubles with Rinoa, and his uncertainties as to where he stood with her. Quistis didn't interrupt him, but she was able to catch all of the unsaid words in his plight, most specifically the ones that involved the subject both of them never talked about. Nevertheless, she was his ear for the half hour or so that it took him to get everything he wanted off of his chest, which left her with quite the pensive expression on her face as she worked her own brain for a possible solution.

Squall just watched her as she turned many gears in her head, hoping to solve what he had spent weeks on end trying to see for himself. He didn't want to put all of his hope in her, but he couldn't help it; it was the first time he had actually told another person his current troubles, and he almost felt too much like that little boy he used to be, looking towards Ellone or Matron for the answers he couldn't find.

Blinking to herself uncertainly, Quistis simply asked another question. "Do you love her, Squall?"

Squall just looked at her, his mouth slightly agape. "I... I care about her deeply."

She raised a carefully sculpted eyebrow. "That isn't what I asked, and you know it."

To this, Squall found himself pacing the floor again, leaving it open-ended. The professor watched him do this for a minute or so before placing the stack of papers down on his desk and moving to intercept him.

"Squall, stop it. You'll wear a hole in the floor if you keep it up, and it's not helping."

The auburn haired male stopped his pacing at the roadblock in front of him. "Quistis... what is love?"

At the most cliché question in the book, the blonde found herself completely speechless. So many things jumped to her throat, but they all caught there and wouldn't go any further. She wanted, in that moment, to tell him that when a person was in love, they would know it. That it was both the worst agony and the most exhilarating happiness a person could ever feel about another. In that person's very presence, your entire world could melt away to the point where it was only them, and it made everything you thought you were both a lie and all the more true. It was the biggest paradox anyone could ever encounter and experience, and it was both the best and the worst addiction ever known to man. _It's the way I feel about you, and I think I always will, no matter how many days, months, or even years go by regardless of any other man that may walk into my life._

Quistis was so caught up in her unspoken thoughts that she was late to realize that her vision was slowly blurring. She tried very hard not to blink or move her eyes at all, but she still couldn't prevent the tears that leaked out of the corners of her lids despite her best efforts. Pursing her lips together, she willed all of the emotions back down where they should stay, yet didn't move to wipe the evidence they left on her cheeks.

* * *

_The next thing I think both of us knew, I was kissing her. I don't know what came over me; it was an impulse, something I rarely act on. But the moment my lips touched hers... Hyne, it was sweet. Sweeter than I ever thought something like that could be. In an instant, all of the words that we never said to each other were uncovered... but without either of us saying anything at all. We communicated our thoughts with our caresses, our gasps, and even in the tender way we held each other later that night, amongst the tangled sheets on the bed._

_When I awoke the next morning, I wasn't too entirely surprised to see that she had gone already. I got up, showered and dressed, all with the memory of yesterday's events replaying in my mind and wrapping me in its warm cocoon._

_It wasn't until I sat down at my desk and looked at the beautiful flower Rinoa had picked for me to symbolize the growth of our relationship that I realized what a grave error I had made._

* * *

Everything around her was gray, mute and nondescript. All she could do was stare unblinkingly at the blocks of text she just read. When she was able to blink at least once, she moved just her eyes to the vase that held the withered remains of a flower on the side of the desk, and then switched it quickly back to the screen in front of her. Gina clamped a hand over her gaping mouth. _Oh, my god..._


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N:** And the first thing I wanted to put down once I finished the last chapter is an AN that went "o shi-!" But that would have ruined the moment, I think. XD Man, this is fun to write, but I'm fully aware this is beginning to look like an episode of Maury. Sorry about that.

And... yes, there is only one chapter this time. I broke combo. :( I'll have two next time, promise.

In other news, I'm sorry it took me so long to update; I have to get to looking for a job, and I'm trying to fix my horrid sleep schedule on top of that, so the fanfiction updates have been struggling. BUT... I have good news! I do have a site for Severed Reality, where all the extras are stored. I put the link to it in my profile. Have a enjoy!

* * *

"Hello? Earth to Gina?" Sharon put down her chocobo book and started waving her hand in front of the computer screen, to which Gina's eyes were still glued. Her best friend slowly moved her gaze from the screen and blinking at her slowly, but didn't remove her hand from where it was placed over her mouth. Sharon sighed.

"What, did Jesus come back or something?" She waited for Gina to acknowledge her crack, but she still didn't elicit a response. "... okay, is this just something I need to see?" She came around to the other side of the desk and knelt beside the chair, her eyes scanning over the words on the screen quite fast. By the time she came to the end of the entry, Sharon's eyebrows were at the very top of her forehead. "WHAT THE FUCK? He didn't... he SO didn't... that player. I wouldn't have known he had it in him, but I guess it was about time, because..." She stopped in mid-sentence when she noticed Gina out of the corner of her eye. _Oh, damn. Way to be insensitive, Sharon. _"Uh... umm..."

"It's okay, Sharii-chan." The quiet girl finally spoke, removing her hand from her mouth. Her fingertips brushed against the surface of the Griever pendant slightly before coming to a rest in her lap. "I guess that's what he wanted."

Sharon just stared at her friend for a few moments, her lips pursed with an indescribable expression. She scooted so that she was facing the chair and pulled it around so that Gina was situated towards her. "Okay. So, I may not know all the ins and outs of Squall's personal life because the only entry I've read is the one you showed me, but if you ask me, it's so totally obvious that he doesn't KNOW what he wants. Girl, LOOK at me." Gina raised her eyes out of her lap. "A lot of shit is going on in his head, and probably always HAS been going on in his head. It's the quiet ones who snap, and it's not always out of anger, because they always keep everything inside and don't confide to anybody or anyone. It's the reason why I have always tried to convince you to just talk about your feelings, what's going on in your head, even if you think it's stupid or mundane or no solution will ever come to solve your problems. Journals are great; believe me, I whore mine out like no other... but friends are better. There's just something therapeutic about speaking to another human being, saying your troubles out loud." Sharon nodded her head at the computer. "It seems to me that our commander has finally learned how to have friends and trust them, but not enough to get out of his head. He still has a ways to go where that is concerned."

Gina shrugged helplessly.

"Do NOT judge him on his mistakes, G-fuu. As much as he's probably written down in his blog, there's probably so much more he didn't write down and that we can't know. I know it's hard, and I bet that's so easy for me to say because I don't care for him like you do. As mere humans, we can't change the past, but we can strive for what we want in the future, because the future isn't set in stone." Sharon got up from her place on the floor then, her knees cracking in protest. "Ow, shit... I'm going to be needing a walker or knee-replacement surgery by the time I'm 30 if this continues." She started to walk away, but then thought against it and looked back at the monitor. "Hey, how'd you get into that, anyway?"

Gina looked up at her. "By finding the directory of blogs under the administrative account. Why?"

"Well, I was wondering... could you find Quistis' journal? I want to know what she wrote about all of this."

"But her journal is public, see?" Gina maneuvered to the other window and went back to Selphie's home page and clicked on the link that went to the professor's personal diary. "I hardly doubt that she's gonna write 'and today, everyone's favorite Balamb commander and I had a liaison'."

"Man, the news certainly has you bitter as all get out. Don't blame you, though. But no, she wouldn't write that for the entire world to see. Think of her reputation, and the Trepies would have been stormed his office and lit it on fire while lynching him or something drastic like that if word got out. No, they're way too subtle for that. But, that STILL doesn't mean she didn't write about it in there. You can have the option of locking some entries but not them all, right?"

"I don't know. I'm not sure I care right now, either." She got up from the chair and walked around to the door. "I'm going to take a break. I think I need it."

"Hell, you NEED to get some sleep!" Sharon shouted after her as the door closed. She hoped Gina would take her advice; she knew her best friend's rational mind wasn't at it's best and caused all of it to get to her more than it normally would, but she couldn't help but agree that the news was a shocker. _I think the worst part is going to be when we finally find them, and she can't even chew Squall out or anything because she has to pretend she knows absolutely nothing at all. Knowledge is a bitch to handle._

She sat down where Gina once was and started maneuvering around the windows. She took note of Quistis' username and scanned the incredibly long list of names in the plain menu until she came across the link. She had a lot more posts than Squall had, many of them rather short and impersonal. It made them easier to browse through to get to the ones that weren't viewable to the public, which is exactly what Sharon was looking for. Those elusive entries were filled with her building nervousness around Squall, and her failed attempts at a friendship with Rinoa. She attributed her failures to her inability to truly shove her feelings for Squall aside, and figured it was a just punishment for herself. _My god, this woman is just as emo as Squall. No wonder they're compatible._

* * *

_It's been day three since Squall and I slept together. And to think, I had only gone into that office on an errand for the Headmaster._

_What am I going to do? I had wanted things to be cleared up between us, but now it seems that all I have accomplished is making things more muddled. I shouldn't have let it happen, but... I'm too weak. It reminds me too much of the days when I had just begun my teaching career at the age of 17. I had the brains and the abilities, which is the only reason why I was even considered to get my professor's license. I was in danger of losing it that year, under claims that I lacked the leadership abilities required of a professor at Balamb Garden. I almost gave up, then. I had just enough willpower to leave that meeting before I burst into tears. I had tried talking to Squall about it later that night, but it was hardly fitting as a congratulations speech for his ability to finally become a SeeD. I wonder, now, why I even bothered. He had blown me off so many times before, so what was going to make that instance any different? But I was a lost girl, then, and to me, he represented everything that I couldn't be and I couldn't have. I looked up to him, and continued to do so even through all of the times he shot me down._

_The next morning, I found myself automatically walking down the halls to my classroom, forgetting that my license had been suspended. It wasn't until I stepped in the doorway and looked at one of the professors that had been on the board of that staff meeting that condemned me, teaching my class but had paused in mid-lecture just to give me a self-satisfying smirk that I completely realized my mistakes. Being told that you're a failure is one thing, but understanding is another. I turned around immediately and marched myself right into Headmaster Cid's office and all but demanded flat out that I have another chance. He must have seen the change in me... or I don't know what he saw, but he obliged my request._

_I don't think I have to explain the glee I felt when I went back down to my classroom and told him to leave, showing him the papers that overrode the decision to suspend my license. I also couldn't help but be pleasantly surprised at the cheers that erupted from my students when the door closed behind him, either. I wasn't a failure. I was, at that moment, the best damn professor Balamb Garden had, and I loved each and every one of my students enough to never fail them again._

_And in Squall's case, I loved him too much. Our relationship, for whatever it was back then, was a living example of the failures I made as an early professor. Those that I promised never to return to. He noticed something had changed about me, but he never stopped to ask me about it. Probably didn't "want to carry anyone else's burden". But unlike every other time, I didn't bother chasing after him anymore. I was determined to toss away that dream the old me lived by. I was going to take life by the reigns on my own, as it was the only way to succeed._

_Or so I had deluded myself for years._

_I don't know why I have this habit of making large mistakes before realizing things about myself, but I wish I'd stop. I couldn't sleep that night I made the biggest mistake of my life. I cried as quietly as I could, hoping that I wouldn't wake him up beside me. What was I doing there? Why? It was all wrong. I should have felt so happy, so complete... but I was so empty inside. I love him, but... I knew that we could never be together. For the first time ever, I honestly REALIZED that. All I had to do from the beginning was come face to face with it to trigger that epiphany; instead, I opted to turn my back on it, pretend that it wasn't there. Even when I was younger and I thought I was facing it in being forward whenever I met Squall, I was merely using it to chase after an ideal that would never come to pass._

_My only regret is that I had to mess up both of our lives in order for me to reach the maturity I was always trying to attain._

* * *

"... daaaammmn." Sharon sat back in the chair and scratched at the side of her head a bit, letting the words sink in. _So... what does all of this mean? Was it just a one-night stand or something? Do they ever get their ish worked out or what? Man, I shouldn't love reading all of this like I do right now; this isn't a fanfiction for christ's sake. But... I want to know so bad! Now I see why this shit kept Gina awake for so long._ She clicked on the next entry.

* * *

_Today, I had decided that a week was far too long to go pretending, and if I wanted to set things right, then I should go ahead and do it. I wanted to apologize... as much as I had wanted to clear the air between us that day..._

_I wasn't expecting Rinoa to come storming out of his office. I froze, hoping that she wouldn't see me, but she looked up at that moment and directly into my eyes. I know guilt was written all over my face... I couldn't hide it. I had no idea what they had obviously argued about, and I remember faintly hoping that he hadn't said anything to her before we had to chance to work things out. She stepped up to me, then, and I was bracing myself for her to slap the truth right off of my face._

_Instead, she just left me with the words, "Go ahead, laugh. The princess has been knocked from her throne."_

_As she continued her furious pace through the hall, I had to fight the urge to go to his office to see if he was alright, because Hyne knew how that turned out the last time I tried something like that. I am... just really no good at doing much at all._

_I don't think I can take this anymore._

* * *

Sharon was biting her fingernails that she has tried so hard to grow out in her anxiety when she realized that was the last post Quistis made in her diary. _What the fuck just happened?? Is this why Quistis just stopped showing up to work all of a sudden? Did she... _She shook her head as if to throw the thought out of her brain. _ No, Sharon, she did not kill herself. Don't even ALLOW yourself to think like that. She did not. That is not Quistis Trepe._

But she couldn't help the small voice in the back of her head that whispered, _but how do you know?_

Jumping up from her seat, Sharon rushed for the door. She really hoped that Gina wasn't asleep yet.

* * *

Gina was leaning out of the open window in her room, facing the sun's rays. A warm breeze filtered in every once in awhile, bringing the scent of the nearby shore to her nose. She originally had a nap in mind, but once she actually returned to the dorm she decided to just get some fresh air.

She didn't know why the news about Squall and Quistis affected her so much. Somehow, Gina could read entry upon entry about Squall and Rinoa and not really blink much of an eye. _Maybe because I really didn't see that coming. As much as I don't like Rinoa as the game depicts her, I was always willing to give her a chance as long as she wasn't as annoying as the game made her out to be. _As much as she didn't like to admit it, Squall and Rinoa were always the canon couple. _I bet they still would have gotten together if Sharii-chan and I didn't barge into their world like we did..._

Even though everything had turned out fine in the end, Gina had always felt guilty. Fans weren't supposed to jump headfirst into their fandom and screw up a timeline for their own benefit. She had become a Mary Sue, for all intensive purposes; she inherited powers beyond her comprehension, saved the world, and hooked the main guy in the end. She felt like she didn't deserve to feel hurt over the turn of events she just read.

Gina's mind traveled back to the night before she left, where Squall had bestowed upon her both his Griever pendant and his kiss. _ So... does that mean nothing anymore? Should I just forget it? It's not like I can be around in his life anyway. _She struggled with her thoughts, trying not to get too depressed about it. _Think about what Sharii-chan said; you can't judge him just by his journal. I know Squall enough to know that he probably does have more things than what he'll ever say, even to himself, on his mind. But does that mean I should hope against it all that he still cares for me?_

A knock on the door got her out of her thoughts, and she left her bedroom to the main door of the dorm and opened it to reveal Xu.

"Hello." She waved shyly. "I had a break and I was just coming by to see what you guys were up to. It's okay, right?"

Gina smiled and stepped aside. "Of course it is. You don't have to ask. Although I do understand your hesitation; I did the same thing when I first met Sharii-chan."

"As I've heard." Xu came inside of the room and sat down in one of the chairs in the main room. "I think it's a heartwarming story, how you two became friends. Sharon retells it like it just happened yesterday."

Gina laughed. "Yeah, well, it is one of her most favorite stories to tell. She likes to think about how her hyperness and loudness scared the crap out of me, but then ended up hooking me in the end because I could never run away fast enough."

"Ah, but I don't think you wanted to run away, did you?" Xu replied, chuckling. "Speaking of which... where is she? The commander's office?"

Gina nodded, her mood shifting a bit.

Xu tilted her head to the side. "What's wrong?"

Gina looked away then, not able to tell her the truth. "I'm just... worried about finding them. I'm so anxious to get going, yet I'm scared at what I might find... or more accurately, what I might NOT find. I don't want to be a let down to the Headmaster or anyone else."

"What makes you think you'll be a let down?"

"Well..." Gina really had no clear answer to that counter. Just a few minutes ago, it was obvious, yet when presented with that question, she had no real idea as how she could respond.

Xu continued. "I don't think you'll ever be a let down for us. You've already done more than what is expected of you just for showing up and trying. I know it's easy to think about the negatives... but all SeeDs are trained to look for the favorable outcome; it helps motivate us during missions where things just seem to go horribly wrong at every turn. As long as we know there's still a goal, and that we're going to fight until we absolutely cannot anymore... that's what helps us succeed, even in the face of what would ordinarily be called a failure. SeeDs don't fail. We just have setbacks. The disappearance of the commander and his team has been hard on everyone, but it's just a setback in a larger chain of events."

Gina stood and absorbed slowly all of Xu's encouraging words. She didn't know if she could take them seriously in the mood she was in, but she appreciated the effort. _Hopefully when I'm done mourning what never could be, I can get to making some real progress around here._

"HEY, G-FUU! ARE YOU..." The door flung itself open and Sharon stumbled in, caught in mid-yell when she noticed Xu was sitting in the main room. Her hesitation was slight, but Gina caught it immediately and noticed that her best friend had some news to share that couldn't be told in mixed company. "Well, I guess you ARE awake. You never took that nap, did you?"

Gina shook her head. "Nope. I don't think I was, as much as I probably need it. Xu stopped by and she and I have been talking for a little bit."

"Sweet. Any good gossip?" Sharon gave a sly grin.

Xu just laughed. "Hardly. I wish there was, though. It would give some of us the hope we needed."

Sharon raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Gossip? Gives folks hope? Really? I find THAT hard to believe."

"Well, we are living in a tumultuous time. The rivalries are getting steadily worse, and the few of us left that still have our wits about us are trying to quell attempts at group sabotage on other Gardens. It's getting harder and harder to do by the day, however. The biggest thing to talk about as of late is which Garden has more losses."

"It's... really hard to believe all of this is going down, still. We've only been here for a short time, and we don't really get out much as it is, so we don't really have a feel for what we're supposed to expect when we finally get around to this mission we've showed up to accept." Sharon trained her eyes off to the side for a moment, lost in thought. "Maybe... we're going about this all wrong."

Both Gina and Xu just blinked at her. "What?"

Sharon came out of her mental reverie and looked at the other two girls in front of her. "You know, I have NO idea what that was just now. Train of thought; derailed. 20 killed and 13 injured."

Her best friend just sighed as Xu managed to look even more confused. "Well... either way, I wish you two the best of luck. I'm sorry this has been so short, but I only managed to sneak away for a little bit. I feel a tad uncomfortable leaving the younger recruits alone for too long, since it's mostly them that end up getting into the biggest messes." She stood up and headed for the door. "Same time tonight for the Training Area?"

"You bet." Sharon and Gina waved goodbye to the SeeD, and the door closed shut behind her, leaving the two girls alone.

Gina just cut straight to the chase. "So... you're lying."

Sharon just turned her big brown eyes on her, a vision of innocence. "Hmm?"

"Oh, don't give me that! You know I do that look best, anyway. What'd you come barging in here for?"

Sharon dropped the act. "Well... I found some more juicy stuff in Quistis' journal... BUT BEFORE YOU ACCUSE ME OF GETTING MY JOLLIES OFF ON THIS WHOLE MESSED UP SITUATION... I think what happened between Quistis and Squall was the reason she left."

"... no offense, but I don't really find that plausible. Quistis has had to put up with that kind of pressure ever since she figured out she liked Squall, and her job seems way too important for her to just up and leave without a trace."

"Yeah but... man, you didn't read what I read. Her shit puts the most goth emo kids to shame on the one-liners she can pull, especially since I actually BELIEVE her angst is real and I just hope she didn't... uh... do anything drastic like, say, off herself because she couldn't handle it anymore."

Gina just gave her the most appalled look. "Sharii-chan!"

"What? Hell, no one knows where she went, and the only reason people aren't looking is because of all of this crap that's come up, which I don't even know how they're gonna solve." She trailed off as her eyes drifted off focus, a sure sign to Gina that Sharon was brewing up something in her head and wasn't sharing all of it. As if reacting to Gina's unsaid suspicions, Sharon looked at her in a determined fashion. "Fuck this. We need to get the hell up out this piece."

"... what do you mean? Go back to GV?"

"NO! I mean, get up out of Garden! And as soon as possible. We're not really going to accomplish anything if we just sit around here and read the gang's blogs. Which is really sad if we're resorting to privacy violation as a way to pass the time around here." Sharon started pacing. "Think about it. We're here, and we don't know where to start looking. We don't even know what to expect when we leave these grounds. Not all of our surprises are going to come in the form of random encounters in the Training Area. Cid might have set us up the bomb when it comes to this whole god-forsaken mission, but in order to make the best of it, we're going to have to just throw ourselves right into it."

Gina made a face. "What, this coming from the person who was the first to mention to Cid how much we SUCK at being SeeDs after four years of inactivity? I JUST got the hang of using my bow. That, and we can't just run out there without a plan. It calls for disaster."

Sharon just looked at her, not really ready to concede defeat just yet. "... alright, fine. A compromise. We use the time that we have training and coming up with some sort of course of action to follow. When we do that... we leave. I say we make this deadline in a week."

"... a WEEK?"

"Gina, I'm going to go NUTS as it is spending our days going from one room to another. At this point, I'm just about ready to hijack the intercom system and broadcast 'HAY FOLKS, WE'RE BACK!' just so we don't have to do all of this sneaking around shit that covers our asses."

Gina fought the urge to facepalm. "Discretion is a part of valor."

"... and, I never did read Sun Tzu's Art of War."

"I don't think that saying came from that book."

"Well, whatever. Either way, that's what I propose we do. Any questions?"

The shorter girl just looked her friend wearily. There was no budging Sharon when she was headstrong like this, and she knew it. She just wished that it didn't seem like things were stockpiling on top of each other without any real time to make sense of any of it. _ God. What I wouldn't give for a strategy guide right about now. _"Alright... fine. But YOU get to tell the Headmaster whatever he needs to hear to actually let us out of here this soon. I think we made it seem as though we were going to stick around for a while longer."

Sharon waved her hand through the air, unconcerned. "I've already started thinking up something. My bullshitting skills are unparalleled, in this world or the next."

Gina snorted, turning around and heading back to her room. "Well, you have fun with that. I'm going to go to sleep."


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N:** Nope, not a year long hiatus, thank god. I'm still alive, just struggling due to life and lack of lazy computer time. D:!! I have decided I do not like the real world very much. College wasn't that much better, but at least it was a place I could delude myself for a good 5 years.

* * *

Headmaster Cid was having a good day. Or, a relatively good day, considering the circumstances. Nida's condition had stabilized, due to Dr. Kadowaki's quick thinking and luck at bringing in a couple of good surgeons that were trained in Esthar and some healers from surrounding towns. It wasn't known yet just how affected Nida's brain was by the injuries, but a couple of weeks of rehab and tests were in the making and everyone was pretty optimistic. After the phone call of hell that he had to make not too long ago, anything was better news to tell his parents who were seemingly still in between blaming Balamb Garden for their son's predicament and just being glad that he's still alive and on his way to recovery.

Taking a moment to sit back in his chair, he let his thoughts wander a bit. _Well, it's not like they'd be the first ones to blame Garden when things like this happen. The only reason that there isn't a mob of angry parental guardians outside of my doors right now is probably because most of the students here are orphaned victims of one sorceress war or another. I don't know what I'd do if it came down to that; I'm still dreading the inevitable day where the press will be at my door demanding an official speech on what has come over our SeeDs. I hope that we get lucky and this mess will be solved before things get worse._

Just as he was coming out of his mind, there was a knock at the door. Shortly thereafter, Sharon poked her head around the crack in the door and grinned somewhat sheepishly. "Yo, Cid. May I have a moment of your time?"

Almost chuckling at the mixture of casual and formality, he nodded. "Of course. You caught me at the right time, it seems; I was just finishing up a bit of work."

"Oh! Well... sweet. I always knew I rocked at something." Coming more fully into the room and closing the door behind her, she walked up to an empty seat in front of Cid's desk and plopped down. "So... how's it going? We haven't had the time to talk since Gina and I first got here."

Sighing a bit, Cid shrugged. "That is quite a loaded question. The simple answer to that would be 'not good', which is what you already know. I have been doing my part, what little I can do, to help keep things in balance, but as the days pass I fear that my efforts might be in vain. But, that is relatively old news. How are you and Gina doing? Has Xu been an adequate hostess?"

"She has, actually. Gina and I have been busy indoctrinating her into our already growing circle of friends that... somehow aren't really all that connected, but you get my drift. That girl is so shy, you wouldn't believe! Well, just give me more time, and I'll change that. Once all this shit has settled, that is. But, speaking of which... that's what I came in here to bug you about, actually."

"Oh? Is anything the matter?"

"No, not really." Sharon scratched her head. "I just wanted to let you know that Gina and I have decided that there is only so much we can do holed up here, so we're ready to hit the road and see what we can dig up outside of Garden. We know it'll be dangerous, and we're not really all that sure what to expect... but that's half the problem. We can't really know what we're dealing with until we're out in it, getting our hands dirty. It doesn't mean that we're gonna totally jump head-first into the mud pile, so to speak, but we are just about ready to leave the nest."

Pausing for a moment, Cid finally nodded slowly. "Alright. Are you sure you're adequately prepared?"

She shrugged. "As much as we can be. I figure, it's now or never. Listening to Xu's attempts at trying to quell all of the uprisings from inside Garden and thinking about all of the shit that's happening OUTSIDE of Garden just tells me that things aren't going to get better if we just wait it out. I do admit I don't have a single clue as to how to approach the whole SeeD issue that's going around, but I do know that Gina and I have a mission to recover the missing team that tried to figure it out in the first place. Hopefully, during that time, we can come up with something that nobody has thought of before, and we'll have the team to do it."

The Headmaster laced his fingers together and placed them on the surface of his desk with a musing expression on his face. "That is... very true. I had hoped to keep you two around for a little while longer, though... because as much as it is bad for your superior to admit, I do not want to lose you and Gina to this world that seems to have swallowed Squall and the others."

Sharon tried not to gape, but she was fighting a losing battle with that one. "Well... that's quite the honor for us, headmaste- I mean, Cid. I don't think we deserve it all that much, really. But, that's what we were called here for, right? We're just ready to do our job to the best of our ability."

"As much as that is also true, I kept wishing that there was another way where you two didn't have to be involved, not in this unfavorable fashion." Cid let his eyes drift over to the window. "I had hopes of a different kind of reunion for all of you, full of laughter and the joy that I saw amongst you all despite the looming threat of a sorceress trying once again for world domination. But instead..."

"Instead, there's war and strife. And missing companions." The colorful girl finished. _And drama like no other, but you don't need to know that. _"Yeah, it's not exactly summer vacation. But you know... we have a saying in our world that I'm not sure carried over or not to here, but I'd figure I could share it anyway because it fits exactly what is going on: 'Shit happens.' Yeah, it's crude... like just about everything else I say, but it sums up just about every terrible situation that comes to pass no matter what world you live in. The only thing we can do is try to get past it."

Smiling faintly, Cid drew his eyes away from the window. "You do have an interesting way of saying things, but they do serve a purpose." He cleared his throat and straightened up in his chair. "Do you have a set date for departure? Normally, this would call for the appropriate paperwork, but for something like this I am not sure how one would actually go about documenting it."

"Yeah... maybe that's for the better; Squall was always the good one at that, and he's not around to do it for me." Sharon took a moment to mull it over. "Actually, I was thinking some time today, given I get my shit together. It's funny how I was the one to notify Gina about this whole idea, but she's ready before I am. But, if I bust my ass, then I should be all good to go." Sharon straightened the hem of her uniform and stood up. "So... uh... is this where I salute you and stuff?"

Blinking for a moment, Cid burst out into full laughter. "No, I don't think those kinds of formalities will be required. I'm not feeling much the headmaster these days, as it is. Just go and finish preparing... and please, if nothing else, make it back here safely. I place that as a priority above even your mission."

To that, Sharon gave a wide grin and a peace sign. "Oh, you know us. We ALWAYS come back, for better or for worse." She made her way to the door. "And when we do, you will join us in a party where we will get you dead ass wasted, and you will forget that all of this bad shit ever happened. Scout's honor."

The Headmaster couldn't help but laugh a bit more, even after Sharon had left his office. _I didn't know how much I did need a laugh until then. Life has been certainly sobering these days._

* * *

Gina stood with her arms crossed, leaned up against the door frame. "We're not going on a five day camping adventure through the woods, Sharii-chan."

"I know! And we'd better not, because I fucking hate camping." Sharon stumbled out of her room, a small shoulder bag packed. "I just had to make sure I have the things that I will be taking... like deodorant. Don't wanna be funky while crossing the World Map, ya know? Although it might be a weapon to use while traversing the wild areas where monsters roam. Just lift up an arm and the smell would waft from your armpit in a haze of green-"

"And, you're done talking." Gina interrupted, grimacing. "However... do you know exactly where we're going?"

"Of course I do! We're going to go to Balamb."

"... right. And what's in Balamb?"

"Lots of water and that draw point that you ganked magic from the first time we stumbled upon this world, should be. But there is also a train, and that train we shall take, as long as the routes haven't changed in four years."

Gina pursed her lips and cocked an eyebrow. "That's not specific enough. WHERE is this train headed?"

Sharon smiled, an innocent gesture that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Oh. We're headed to Timber."

Gina blinked incredulously at her best friend. "... why the hell are we going THERE?"

"To solve a mystery."

"... I don't get your train of thought."

"Well, it hasn't derailed yet, but I can understand if it's going someplace you didn't consider it would as of yet. C'mon, let's concentrate on getting out of here and into some fresh air, and I'll tell you what I'm thinking when we're on the road."

Giving up for the moment, Gina just followed her friend out of the dorm and to the main entrance of Garden. Except for the weapons they carried on their backs, they now looked like ordinary young people set on some kind of unnamed adventure. Heeding Headmaster Cid's advice, they had changed out of their SeeD uniforms into something a lot more casual... which were basically the clothes they had on before they arrived through the portal. Gina sported her favorite light gray long sleeved shirt that had an intricate black tribal pattern on the front, over which was an unbuttoned collared short-sleeved shirt. The shirt was royal blue at the top, but faded down to red, orange and yellow flames at the bottom hem in which silver dragons laced throughout the pattern. She also had on her favorite pair of baggy blue jeans, which were way too long for her short stature. The bottoms of the jeans were ripped at the heel where her sneakers usually trod, giving the pants a worn yet well-loved and comfortable look.

Sharon had decided on an outfit that clashed with the pink and purple streaks in her hair. She wore her favorite shirt, which happened to be a medium green ribbed raglan with the words "Don't be mad at me when I'm mad at you!" scrawled on the front. A black studded belt circled the top of her jeans that were also a tad too long for her, but enveloped their flared ends around her sturdy black Sketcher boots that kept the edges just barely above the ground. Both girls walked with the cool breeze from the sea at their backs as they made their way across the small winding road to the sea port town of Balamb. Sharon didn't so much as blink an eye, but Gina found herself slowing a bit to look out into the wide grassy plain as if she was trying to search out the spot where they found themselves all those years ago with a Bite Bug at their necks. _This is so crazy... never would I have dreamed I'd be back here, let alone for something like this._

Walking into the town, things pretty much looked the same. At first, the girls were a bit tense, expecting someone to jump out and recognize them as the pair that had been gone for so long after Ultimecia's defeat, but no one paid that much attention to them, much to their relief. They REALLY didn't know what they would have done had there been a riot in their name or whatever people had in store for them.

However, it was also a tad disappointing on another end of the spectrum, and disheartening to see just how great the effect of the troubled times had on the populace. There wasn't much on the surface, since at first glance it was just like any other day; vendors selling things on the cobblestone streets, the small houses with the occasional chimney dotting the sides, and the seagulls that coasted overhead. However, there was a level uneasiness that hung over the town like a very faint fog, one that you couldn't see unless you let your eyes unfocus for a moment. There were quite a few SeeDs about, all of them being from Balamb Garden of course. They were doing what just about any other regular college person would do, which was centered primarily around milling around and looking cool. Gina supposed that SeeDs did this all of the time, but for some reason the effect of them wearing their uniforms made it seem a lot more prominent than it normally would be.

Being caught at staring at her surroundings almost made her crash face first into the back of her best friend, who due to her long legs and naturally fast pace was leading. Steadying herself, she peered at what had caught Sharon's attention, and she immediately understood.

"You think it'd be too weird to go in and see how Ma Dincht is doing?" Sharon mused, staring at the front door of the small home.

Gina sighed. "I think so. I don't know if Zell ever got around to telling her where we were really from, despite him being known for having the big mouth and all. But even so, do you think we could take seeing her right now? I mean, the boy she'd been raising as a son for so long is missing. At the very most, she'd be glad to see us, but we'd also have her hopes fully weighing on our task at this moment."

Sharon nodded, looking downcast. "Yeah. I'm really trying not to think about how fucked up everything is right now, like how weird it is to be back here and without the orphanage gang to boot. We're not HEROES, G-fuu; we're your average dorky gamer-esque college students on the verge of graduation. In short, we really don't know what the fuck we're doing. It didn't matter last time, but now... it seems like we're on our own more than ever. And it's really scary." She shook herself slightly and continued walking. "And I've just managed to depress myself a bit, there. That sucks; lemme try not to do that again."

The shorter girl chuckled mirthlessly as they rounded the corner and came to the edge of town where the train station was placed. It wasn't crowded at all, and for the most part one could say that it was semi-deserted. Perhaps it wasn't too unusual, seeing as though there weren't many people in Balamb to begin with, and the most the station catered to were SeeDs being deployed on missions that weren't readily accessible via foot. Stepping up to the window, Sharon peered down to the small circular hole in the glass where she could see an older man reading the latest issue of Anarchist Monthly. _What the hell, they still publish that shit? _"Hi, sir. Two tickets for Timber, please. And make that a private cabin."

The cashier glanced up from his reading material and moved to issue the tickets as if he had better things to do with his time. Tapping her fingers against the counter, Sharon tried not to get too impatient.

"Here you go, two for Timber." He slid the slips of paper towards her, and she gratefully took them and handed them to Gina, since she was less likely to lose them. They both turned to go, but the cashier had leaned forward to peer at them more closely. For a split second, both of their hearts froze, since they had figured that someone in the whole town had managed to recognize them.

"You headed for the resistance?"

Both Gina and Sharon traded quick glances of uncertainty. There WAS a resistance in Timber, but Timber had already been freed from Galbadian influence. So what was all of this about? Trying to remain cool, Sharon laughed. "What made you think that?"

The guy eyeballed her, all the more convinced of their purpose in going to Timber. "Well, to me, it's plain obvious. You ain't SeeD, since you don't wear the uniform. But you're one of the few younguns NOT to be SeeD, so I figure you're able to hold your own and do crazy things like join a faction against them."

Gina's mouth dropped open. "What? Against SeeD?"

"O'course." The certainty in his eyes died down a bit at the obvious confusion and shock displayed in the faces of the two young ladies in front of him. "You REALLY don't know what's going on, do ya?"

Sharon flinched and shrugged, with a sheepish grin she coined from Rikku in FFX-2. "Actually, no we don't. However, you seem to know more than we do, and you've piqued our curiosity. Care to fill us in?"

Looking around conspicuously, he waved them closer to the window. "Well, as much as people don't like to talk about it much, SeeD has gone bonkers. Loads of crazy stuff's been going down lately, and many folks are looking at what seems to be the start of an all-out war. Figure the moment this land gets OUT of war, we get to lookin' for ways to dive back in it. Still, lots of people don't like to see what's in front of 'em. SeeD saved our butts last time, so that's like making Hyne into a devil for most. But some people bold enough want to put a stop to it, reckon that if enough people stand up against SeeD that it'll make a change for the better. I think it's madness, but ya can't help but admire 'em."

"So... this faction's base is in Timber?" Gina questioned.

"That's what I've been hearin'. No other place better for it, considering the town's history. Deling's too close to Galbadia, there's nothin' really IN Trabia, and Balamb won't have any of that foolishness. As it is, the same folks who petitioned for Timber's independence are supposedly the folks running the whole thing. But of course, you didn't hear this from me."

"Yes, of course. Don't worry, we won't rat you out. Thanks for the info, though." Sharon thanked the man and hurried off in the direction of the station, where the train had just finished boarding what little passengers it had. Passing through a couple of occupied cabins, they came to the one they had just booked tickets from, and slid inside. A pang of nostalgia hit Gina then, looking at the familiar setting of the room much like they had sat in on the way to the first mission to Timber. Absentmindedly, she went over to the table that held numerous magazines and shuffled through them to see if there were any more Pet Pal volumes.

Sharon plopped down on the red-upholstered seat and blew a strand of hair off of her forehead. "Well, that's a nifty piece of information we stumbled upon. Kinda wish I knew that before deciding to head on out, though. I wonder if Cid knows anything about this?"

Gina sat down in a chair across from her. "Maybe... if he does, there's likely not much he can do about it right now. This world certainly has gone off the chain as it is. Which reminds me; you were going to tell me why exactly we were headed to Timber, anyway. I KNOW it's not to infiltrate this insurgence."

"The RESISTANCE; insurgents sounds so demeaning." Sharon corrected, then sat up. "Well... the ORIGINAL reason I wanted to go to Timber is because I want to have a word with Rinoa."

The shorter girl sighed exasperatingly, not really willing to go back to the entire relationship drama that she'd been trying so hard to forget about in favor of their original mission. "What? I can't believe you. This is no time to instigate on crap we're not even involved in. We're SUPPOSED to be trying to find Squall and the others, remember?"

"Well, wait a minute! I didn't forget about that!" Sharon said defensively. "It's just that Cid gave us no clear place to start, seeing as though this whole damned mission is technically impossible to complete and was founded on wishful thinking in the first place, as harsh as that may sound. So, I took it upon myself to find a place to start looking. Out of everyone, the only other person that we can say that was directly involved with Squall was Rinoa. As much as she might dislike the guy right now depending on whatever their arguments were revolved around, she might have some information for us that nobody else has considered. Finding out about what happened between them... well, that's just icing on the cake, at least for me. But honestly, she might also have an idea on where Quistis is."

Gina just blinked, her brain not really following all of the points Sharon was trying to make to justify their trip to Timber. "Quistis? Rinoa HATES her, that much is clear. What makes you think she'd care if we showed up and started asking her where our professor ran off to? What makes you think she'd even KNOW?"  
"Yeah, it's a far shot, I'll give you that. But I'm not throwing all of the few sources we know we have out of the window just yet. No, she won't care, but we wouldn't be asking her directly, either. Instead, I'm planning on having it spill out if she knows anything during the time that we coddle her broken ego about her boyfriend. Cause that's how it ALWAYS works, you see?"

Gina just placed a finger to her forehead in a Squall-like fashion, feeling the beginnings of a headache coming on. It was clear that she still thought the entire escapade was ridiculous and ill-timed, and even though they were doing nothing but snooping through Squall's office or training she felt that it had more of a means to an end.

Sharon saw the look on her best friend's face and figured that she had not succeeded in getting her to the main cause. "Look. Just bare with me, okay? I... usually don't know what I'm doing, but most of the time the charm is that I THINK I know. And that's better than nothing, right? And as much as our mission dictates that we get Zell, Squall, and Selphie back from wherever the hell they are right now, MY personal mission is to get EVERYONE back. This includes our AWOL professor and that silly Galbadian cowboy. I haven't quite figured out all of the kinks yet, but I think with time and the more everything starts unraveling, that it'll work out on its own."

Gina couldn't help but feel that Sharon was right, despite her questionable methods. What else DID they have to go on, really? That, and she agreed with trying to get all of the group back together. She knew that they couldn't do anything by themselves, but maybe with everyone back together again, they stood a chance against whatever it was that was sweeping over the world. At least, that's what she had been telling herself secretly. All her best friend had done was give a voice to her thoughts and figure out some kind of way to accomplish them.

"Alright. Well, if we're going to do this... how do you plan to find her? I doubt that Watts will be standing on the stairs of the station going 'Oh, the forests of Timber sure have changed!'"

"Yeah. Well... not sure. I was kind of hoping he still WAS there, especially now with the new resistance going on in there. I mean, how else would you recruit members not native to Timber to your cause if you don't have someone with a corny catch phrase waiting to lead you to their hideout when you arrive? Yeah, we tread on a slippery slope getting involved with folks leading a rebellion against SeeD, but last time we were doing the same thing, just against the entire Galbadian government. Same shit, different day."

"If the old man was right, that is."

"Old folks like that usually ARE right about things like this. We just never know because it's not an appropriate past time listening to people like that ramble on and on about stuff they know. Either way, we'll figure it out when we get there." Sharon stretched out on the seat, propping her feet up. Like she usually does on all trips of any sort, she unraveled her headphones that were entangled around her iPod and prepared to lose herself in her music. Gina forgot how long the trip was to Timber from Balamb, but she figured someone should stay alert enough to the stops. Getting up and walking out of the cabin, she stood in the small hallway and leaned up against the window, watching the scenery go by in a blur of greens and browns.

_With any video game, the player never gets to find out what happens to the heroes after their role is done. Yeah, you get hints and maybe even the occasional sequel or movie to help fill in the gaps, but it still ends up the same. Now, Sharii-chan and I are the only people lucky or unlucky enough to know what happens after the credits roll. And here's to hoping it's going to be a happy ending._


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N:** I promised two chapters for my next update, so two chapters you have. Although this one is gonna be longer than most. yay! Oh, and I also updated the SR site thingy with pics. AND... also don't forget to snag the OST if you haven't already, since that's up there, too. And, in typical fashion, I'm trying to make up for all of the inactivity I haven't had in awhile as well as any more leering inactivity I could have in the future. Le sigh.

In other words; thanks for dealing with me thus far. If I was a reader of this fic, I'd want to shoot the author myself.

* * *

Stepping off of the platform, Sharon stretched and breathed in a gulp of fresh air... just to snort it out of her nose moments later. "Eww! I hate the smell of pine!"

Gina laughed. "You don't like ANYTHING dealing with outdoors, do you?"

"Well... that's not ENTIRELY true. I just don't like insects, pollen, cold weather, the smell of flowers or grass, and of course, pine. There's so much more nature has to offer me, I'm sure."

"Not here, I don't think." Gina took a moment to survey her surroundings that, like with much else, hadn't changed. Old-fashioned houses made of stone and brick that were close together and sported chimneys that occasionally puffed faint trails of smoke cozily dotted the small town. Random stands selling all sorts of foods were wafting delicious smells towards them, reminding Gina that she hadn't eaten in awhile. The forests punctuated the backdrop to everything that Timber was aptly named after, the tips of the tallest ones swaying in the breeze. Cobblestone streets made up the majority of the pathways that were lined with ornate fencing or people doing shopping or otherwise milling around. All in all, Timber was a very homey sort of place, when it wasn't the stronghold of some sort of protest group.

"Well. No Watts. Shit. That makes things a little bit harder for us, doesn't it?" Sharon looked around for a familiar face, realizing half way into it that she didn't exactly remember what Watts or anyone else actually looked like. "So... now what? Wanna grab a bite to eat? As long as it's not fried chocobo wings, that is."

"I'd be down for that, actually. Wow, is that a pretzel stand?" Gina's eyes widened as she followed her eyes and her nose over to a vendor who was indeed selling large soft pretzels with a butter glaze. Her stomach growling, Gina hastily paid for two and gave one to her best friend, and they munched happily while walking around the town, eyeing shops and other things of the like. They were very much aware that they were behaving as if they weren't on a mission of the utmost importance and more like tourists on a leisurely vacation, but they were enjoying the fact that they weren't feeling rushed into something just yet. That, and they really were kind of hungry and couldn't think of much else besides the pretzel in their hands. Besides, they figured that they'd start looking seriously after they ate their snack.

Unfortunately for them, what they would have started hunting for later came to them sooner than expected.

Rounding a corner, the two girls found themselves staring along with a crowd of other people, at what looked like your typical union worker's strike. What was different, however, were the signs blatantly denouncing the organization that Sharon and Gina were still proud to be a part of despite the downhill slope it was currently on. People were holding signs saying things like "Sow the SeeD of doubt; get them out!" and the typical red circle with a line through the Garden universal symbol. Even though they weren't wearing their uniforms and the probability that people would recognize them in Timber was drastically decreased compared to the town they just left, just standing there among other onlookers made them feel strangely targeted.

"I beg you, look at what SeeD is doing to our peace that we so rightly deserve!" A woman that looked to be around Gina and Sharon's age was preaching loudly to the audience that she and her fellow protesters had gathered. Her hair was dyed sky blue, although Sharon did get a glimpse of blonde roots underneath it all. "A few of them might have been the bringers of salvation, but now they're on the verge of destroying it and each other in the process! We cannot stand to support them while they are toiling around at our expense, and therefore we should stand together to keep them OUT of Timber and eventually out of all of our lives! This is the only way to get them to see that they can no longer continue on the path that they're on. So, support us, support our cause, and together we'll bring back our freedom!"

Despite the heart-moving speech the azure-haired woman put on, the onlookers remained apathetic. Many of them that didn't already carry on with their day through the duration of the speech sighed or muttered to themselves while shuffling off to do whatever else they had planned to do. Within a couple of moments, the only people left standing were Gina and Sharon, holding their half-eaten pretzels and looking half mortified and half confused. Looking at how her carefully chosen words were being taken, the girl sighed and turned around with the rest of her group and started gathering up her things.

Sharing a glance with each other, Sharon and Gina walked up to her somewhat timidly. "Uh... hi. That was, uh, some speech you put on there." Sharon struggled for some words to say that didn't make her come off as patronizing or a complete idiot. As it was, she only succeeded in the former.

The blue haired girl glanced up at her, a hint of surprise in her gray eyes that was quickly covered by her biting disappointment that the rest of her audience didn't share her enthusiasm. "Yeah, well, tell the rest of them that. They still don't get it."

"Sometimes, a lot of people won't. But you have to keep going for the people who will." Gina spoke up.

"While that's true, only a handful of us can't stop what's coming." The girl bit back, and then seemed to be ashamed of it, for she straightened up and faced them apologetically. "I'm sorry. It's been quite awhile since we actually had people approach us honestly, and my manners really haven't been the best as of late." She offered out her hand, and both Sharon and Gina shook it. "My name's Tonya, temporary leader of the new Timber Wolves."

Trying to hide the surprise that she felt, Gina settled for the nonchalant raise of the eyebrow instead. "Temporary?"

Tonya withdrew her hand and continued gathering her things into a manageable pile. "Yeah. The original leader is another girl named Rinoa, but Hyne knows where she is right now, and we couldn't put everything we've worked for on hold just because she's gone missing."

Shocked into silence by this new chain of events, Gina couldn't work her brain for anything else to say at that moment, so Sharon stepped forward after shoving the remains of her pretzel into her mouth. "Need any help with all of that? You can tell us more about what you're working towards, too."

Looking grateful for the few helpful hands that she could find, Tonya handed both Gina and Sharon extra signs to carry while she bundled up a few other odds and ends and followed the rest of the Timber Wolves to a relatively old building a couple of blocks away that Gina recognized to be the old Timber Maniacs headquarters.

"So... have you always been a part of the Timber Wolves?"

"No, I'm a relatively new addition compared to everyone else that works around here. I'm not native to Timber, so that's part of the reason; I was raised in Winhill, but my folks and I can't really live together under one roof without wanting to kill each other, so I moved out and came to Timber." Tonya shifted her bundle to get a better hold on it. "I settled into an apartment here, and it was then that I came to meet my new roommate, who happened to be Rinoa. We grew pretty close, and eventually she got me sold on this resistance faction she was a part of. I didn't even know that she's the daughter of Cathaway, or her history with him, either, so it threw me for a loop of course. But I understood why she did it. I think it's all we had in common with rebelling against parental authority..." her voice lowered a bit in bitterness. "And SeeD in general."

Becoming increasingly uncomfortable with this girl's obvious dislike for SeeD, Gina tried to carry the topic off onto something else. "Yeah... well, maybe you can help us out a little bit. We're looking for two guys by the name of Zone and Watts. We're... friends from way back, and we're wondering if they're still around. We've become more of the pen-pal type as of late, with everything going on it's been getting harder for us to avoid all of the conflict you protested against. But, we took a chance to try to see them anyway."

Tonya looked at Gina in surprise. "Whoa, you know Zone and Watts? Then you probably know more about the Wolves than I do, since they go WAY back to its original purpose. Say... you guys must know Rinoa, too! Have you seen her around anywhere?"

Gina shrugged helplessly, not being able to quite look at the hopeful gaze in Tonya's eyes. "Actually, we were hoping that she'd be here, too. When we found out from you that she wasn't... well, we're still kind of shocked. We've been out of the loop for quite awhile, it seems."

The light dying from her eyes at no new news of her good friend and roommate, she sighed. "Yeah, it seems like you have. Well, the least I can do is direct you to Zone and Watts. They can probably do a better job at filling you in right now, as I've gotta put all of these things away and help organize another picketing for later this week."

Finally coming up to the door, Tonya pushed herself to the front of the group and unearthed a key from a side pocket of her jeans and unlocked it. Pushing it open, the group filed into a rather haphazard place scattered with papers and chairs and desks and magazines, in which some other people dedicated to the Timber Wolves new cause were busily at work on something or another.

"Tonya!" A guy shouted from his place at a desk, noticing her arrival. "How'd it go?"

"Not good, which is same as always, isn't it?" She placed the things she held down in a chair. "Do me a favor and get these two to Zone and Watts office, will ya? Then we can get to planning our next move."

The guy nodded and waved Gina and Sharon over to a small flight of stairs to the left. Not really knowing what to do with all of the signs they held, they settled for placing them semi-neatly next to where Tonya put her things before following the man up the stairs to a relatively unused portion of the building. Pausing at the second door, he knocked loudly.

"Yo! You got two people here to see ya, at Tonya's request. I didn't know you were using her to get you dates! That's not fair, ya know."

"Geez, Jim, stop with the jokes already!" A voice responded from the other side of the door, and a moment later the door opened with the face of an annoyed young man looking accusingly at Jim. "Can't you ever be serious abou..." Pausing slightly, he got distracted by his two new visitors. At first, he just stood in the doorway and blinked, before his eyes widened in shock. "No way..." A pang of pain in his stomach hit him then, and he almost doubled over.

"Hey, Zone! Nice to see you still have the same old anxiety attacks in the form of stomach problems!" Sharon went forward and clapped him on the back, half ushering him back into the office before he blurted out their identities to Jim, who could or could not know exactly who he would be referring to. "Since it's been some time, let's catch up in your office. And hey, I smell coffee!"

Gina turned and thanked Jim politely, who said he was just doing his job while winking and turning to go back down the stairs. Gina walked over the threshold before closing the door behind her.

"I really don't believe it." A slightly larger man said from behind the three, standing up from a desk as cluttered as all of the ones were on the first floor.

"What, that the Forests of Timber really have changed, yet the Owls are still around?" Sharon quipped, leaning against a wall. "Just what the hell is going on here?"

"What's it LOOK like we're doing?" Watts shot back.

"Well, according to what I just saw outside on the street some 15 minutes or so ago, adversity that borderlines on stupidity since it's obviously a hopeless, yet noteworthy, cause. Much like your mission to kidnap President Deling four years ago in favor of Timber's independence, so I guess I can't scoff at it too much. But don't think I'm not personally miffed at your newest undertakings."

"I don't see why it should matter to you. BOTH of you disappeared off the face of the earth ever since defeating Ultimecia, so I'm surprised you show up now, and here of all places."

"... Touché. But, really, as much as Gina and I would really like to share what we've been up to these past couple of years, it'd take too damn long and we'd have to start at the VERY beginning. What we had originally planned to do was stop in and say hi to Rinoa, just to find that you guys are leading uprisings against SeeD. Well, imagine our surprise. Perhaps you forget just who you guys hired to get the job done? It's a wonder why nobody pays attention to you here, because the people of Timber certainly remember."

Watts continued to look defiantly at Sharon, while Zone had collapsed in a nearby chair holding his stomach. Both of them didn't make a move to defend their cause against Sharon's words.

Gina cleared her throat and stepped forward. "Look, you guys... we didn't come here to fight. We're actually here for information that we thought you guys could help us out with. Even though I don't think you'll care all that much, Squall's gone missing along with Selphie and Zell, the two other SeeDs I hope you remember from way back then. Sharii-chan and I are on a mission to find them and bring them back to Balamb Garden, in hopes that doing so will somehow help quell all of the things that you guys are obviously against that are happening around the world lately. We don't know where to start, but we'd figured looking for those that were previously connected with them would have something that we're overlooking or a trail that we could sniff out to help complete it."

Watts regarded her carefully. "You're right, we don't care all that much, but if you're right and finding them is the key to stopping all of this foolishness, then I wish you luck."

"We don't really have much for you." Zone spoke up, the pain subsiding finally. "Sorry. We're just what we've always been; a resistance faction on an impossible mission."

"But why this mission?" Sharon pressed. "It seems out of the blue; SeeD has done nothing but help you guys out in the past!"

"In the PAST." Watts emphasized, sitting on the corner of the desk. "While you two were off in Hyne knows where doing Hyne knows what, we've been falling apart here. The people that were first charged to helping the public are now too busy quarreling amongst themselves to do anything else. At first, we just figured, it's their prerogative. But when it starts affecting the people, that's not okay. If anything else, the Timber Wolves have always stood for the people's best interests... and if that means protesting against whatever the hell has gotten into SeeD as of late, then so be it. We're trying to save what we can and open eyes before it's too late."

"It was basically Rinoa's idea, anyway."

Gina gazed at Zone. "Really? That's surprising, especially since the last we heard Squall and Rinoa were dating." _Not to mention Squall didn't say anything in his blog about his girlfriend leading an anti-SeeD group; I wonder if this was what he thought she was hiding from him._

"Rinoa was never the one to put her personal interests in front of those of the greater good." Watts said proudly. "It was hard on her, making the decision, since she knew she could never tell him about it. In her eyes, Squall wasn't able to see what she could see in SeeD, seeing as though he's practically the head of a Garden himself. Being a part of the general public enabled her to see not only how the Galbadian army negatively influenced the people all those years ago, but also now how SeeD was becoming a superficial label for anybody with enough gil to dish out to wear the uniform. Now, I'm not saying Squall's like all of the pricks that make up the majority of SeeD now, since he never came off to me as the sort, but it's not making him look any better since he's a part of the organization that houses many of them."

Sharon nodded thoughtfully. "I guess I see where you guys are coming from. I must admit, SeeD has gone off the deep end as of late, and as more time goes by things just keep getting worse. I can't speak for any of the other Garden's, but I know Headmaster Cid is distraught over what's happening and more so his inability to stop it. He still tries as best as he can for a solution, but he hasn't come across any that will work. You both seem to be working towards the same general end... but I can't help but think random preach-fests in the town square denouncing SeeD is the best way to go."

"What, do you have a better idea? Seeing as what you just told us, I don't think you do."

Zone sat up straight then, as if just coming to an epiphany. "Angelo!"

The other three inhabitants of the room looked at him as if he just sprouted wings from his cranium. "Angelo?" Watts repeated. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Shaking his head, he stood up quickly. "I forgot to let him out half an hour ago!"

Sharon perked up. "Angelo! You guys still have him?"  
"Yeah. We still have a duty to make sure the little guy is healthy and all. He spends a lot of time in Rinoa's room, pretty depressed like the rest of us of her sudden disappearance. But, unlike him, we don't have the time to sit around and mope about it, unfortunately."

Zone made for the door, and Sharon followed him. "I wanna see him! Can I can I can I can I can I-"

Zone looked at her over his shoulder, an amused look on his face. "Yes, of course. He might probably be glad for it, too; I can't imagine how tired he is seeing our faces every day."

The pair made it out of the office, leaving Gina and Watts alone to carry on more civil discussion of what to do. Going down the hall a couple of more doors down, Zone opened a door and a large brown dog tumbled out, obviously relieved of being holed up in the room for a tad too long. Upon seeing Sharon, Angelo barked twice happily and buried his furry body into her legs, begging to be pet. Laughing, Sharon bent down and hugged the dog around the neck. "I'm glad to see you too, boy!"

Zone shook his head, smiling himself. "That's the happiest I've seen him in awhile. Maybe you guys should come by more often, once you're done doing whatever it is you guys have to do." He clapped his hands together. "C'mon, boy! Let's get you out in the backyard so we don't have any surprises to clean up later, alright?"

Unraveling his body from Sharon's hug, he followed Zone down the stairs that were almost too thin for the big dog to traverse. Standing up, Sharon brushed off the stray strands of dog hair that were on her shirt and jeans before realizing that Zone had left Rinoa's door open. Glancing over her shoulder to make sure nobody came up the stairs or out of an office, she slipped inside.

_Man, detective work can make a person so giddy, even if I don't know exactly why I'm even up in here right now. _Sharon took note of how much neater Rinoa's room was compared to the state of the rest of the building. She figured she didn't spend as much time here as everyone else seemed to do, seeing as though she had her own apartment and probably spent a lot of her free time with Squall. There were feminine touches here and there, and obviously Rinoa's favorite color was periwinkle blue. She had more than a few desks in the space, each serving a specific purpose Sharon couldn't begin to wonder exactly for. Walking up to one that seemed to be the most personal of them all, she noted a dried flower that was identical to the one that was on Squall's desk at Balamb laying on the surface. Something shiny was around the stem of it, and Sharon moved it around to see an engraving of Griever on the front. _Well, seems like she got his ring after all, without having to con it off of Zell like she did in the game. _She had a picture frame on the desk as well, which held a capture of what was probably a happier time of the canon couple. Judging on the background architecture, Sharon believed that they were in Esthar at the time of the picture, and Rinoa was leaning happily against the Balamb Commander, her cheeks slightly rosy. Squall was looking in a typical fashion at the lens, but the corner of his mouth was partly upturned to signify that he actually was enjoying himself.

_They do make the handsome couple, I'll give them that. Even if Gina's the better pick. _She turned to finally get out of the room before she pressed her luck too much, but her eyes caught on something else that seemed slightly out of place amongst it all. Picking up what looked like a white medicine bottle, the contents stirred noisily within. Wondering if Rinoa was taking a liking to Flintstones vitamins or something of the sort, she turned the bottle in her hand until she came unto a very plain label with the stereotypical black pharmacy print.

_Take one pill as often as symptoms arise._

"... the hell?" Sharon wondered at the contents and the lack of any other information given to her on the label. Taking a closer look at the cap, she could make out a familiar symbol with the name of the brand engraved underneath it.

_ODINE?!? What the fuck... _Wanting to share this new piece of information with Gina, she pocketed the container and tried to muffle the noise the pills made as they jumbled against the sides of the bottle as she walked what she hoped was nonchalantly back across the hall to Watts and Zone's office.

"Hey! Nobody's died; that's good."

Gina smiled. "Of course not. I think Watts and I have come to an understanding, so there are no harsh feelings. How's Angelo?"

"Oh, he was happy as hell to see me, and he even slobbered on my shirt! I'd be mad, but it's Angelo, so therefore I don't care."

Gina was going to make another comment when there was a rapping on the door, and a second later, a harried-looking Tonya burst in. Watts looked at her with concern. "Tonya? What's going-"

"SeeD. From what our sources say, they're from Trabia. I don't know why the hell they're here, but I do know this; I'm going down there to intercept them."

Sharon made an appalled face. "Intercept? What if you provoke them? Isn't it best to just leave them be?"

Tonya shook her head empathically, sending stray blue locks that weren't in her ponytail flying. "No. This is our chance to tell SeeD exactly what we think of them, so I'm not backing down. This is the next best opportunity we have outside of leaving Timber to protest at the Gardens, and I'm taking it." She looked at Watts. "A group of us has already made their way there, and I'm heading out right now to join them. Grab Zone and meet us down there." She disappeared as fast as she came in, her footsteps hurrying down the stairs.

"Headstrong, isn't she?" Sharon noted.

"A little bit too much, she is." Watts turned to look out of the window. "I'm not sure this is a good idea."

"That's because it's not." Gina said. "Peacefully protesting to the otherwise uninvolved is one thing; taking something to the face of SeeD itself would be almost like treason. With how unstable things are looking as of late, I think this can be anything BUT good."

"Great. Well... as the undercover SeeDs that we are, I guess it falls to us unofficially to save her ass if anything DOES go down." Sharon made for the door. "Hell, I don't think even Rinoa with her foolhardy self would have jumped headfirst into something like this without a bit more planning."

Watts snorted. "Well, Rinoa's not the niece of Galbadia Garden's headmaster, either."

Gina audibly gasped and Sharon turned around with her chin nearly on the floor. "WHAT THE FUCK, SHE'S RELATED TO MARTINE?!?"

"Yes, she is. Not too happy about it either, considering Martine's reputation. It made her all the more valuable to our cause to have her on our side, but in times like these I wish she'd think things through a bit more. She runs very much on her impulses."

"That's probably why her folks kicked her out." Gina muttered, turning to head out as well. "Let's try to stop something before it gets too ugly."

Finding Tonya's destination wasn't as hard as they would have thought, seeing as though wherever she was incited a crowd of sorts. Pushing through the people who were wondering what the ruckus was about and probably somewhat excited over a different piece of action than the town has seen in weeks, Sharon and Gina found themselves looking at a western-style face off between the Timber Wolves and a group of five full fledged SeeDs from Trabia, judging by their snowy white uniforms with black braid. Interesting to note, all of the SeeDs were female, and they sort of looked more like a well-dressed clique than upstanding mercenaries for hire. Each girl's hair was neatly done, not a strand out of place, and they all gave off the air that they were high-class and for appearance's sake wanted everyone to know it. Most of the spectators were murmuring amongst themselves; it was rare to see SeeDs in Timber, let alone those from the elusive Trabia Garden. What could be assumed was the leader of the group was training her blue eyes on Tonya with an amused smirk on her face, which only served to make the azure-haired resistance leader more annoyed with their presence in her town.

Sharon tilted her head to the side. "... why does she look like Relena Peacecraft?"

Gina frowned in thought. "Really? I was going more for Minako Aino, but the more I look at her, I'll agree with you."

"Really, I thank you for the audience you've gathered in our name in welcoming us to your quaint little town, but we're just here on vacation, you see." The girl coined as the Relena of the FFVIII universe addressed the Timber Wolves. "We've no time today to quell uprisings of this nature."

Tonya's nose flared. "Oh really? Well, if you have time to take vacation days, then you have time to fix your entire sorry organization from going down the shitter and taking the rest of the world down there with you!"

This incited a roll of the eyes from the blond haired one and bored looks from the rest of her troupe, indicating that this was probably something they've heard many times before. "SeeD matters are of no importance to the general public, and we take orders from no one outside of our Headmaster, whom you are not. So, if you will..."

"We're not going ANYWHERE!" Tonya shouted at her, making the SeeD leader a tad exasperated. Evidently, fuming resistance factions were only amusing for short periods of time before they just got annoying. "You can just turn around and take your high and mighty asses back to your precious Garden, because the people of Timber don't want you here!" The rest of the Timber Wolves shouted agreement, rallied by their leader's steadfast dedication to their cause.

"Relena" pursed her fair lips together and prepared to give Tonya another eloquent verbal lashing, but was interrupted by a new addition to the situation. "What, are you gonna let some ragtag bunch of wannabe revolutionaries tell you what to do? I thought Trabia's job was to tell everyone ELSE what to do, correct?"

Tonya and the rest of her group turned around to the voice that had emerged from behind them. Four members from Galbadia Garden were now visible, and their eyes were trained patronizingly at their rivals over the heads of the resistance faction.

"Oh, Jesus. A challenger appears." Sharon slapped her face. "This is turning out to be more than what anyone bargained for."

"Tell me about it." Gina put in, and tried to look for more details but couldn't see too much due to her height. "Are they all SeeD, or just cadets?"  
"No, they're all SeeD, alright. If my memory serves me right, you have two hand-to hand specialists with yellow trim, one weapons guru with purple trim, and one regular SeeD. This is gonna suck."

Tonya's eyes hardened at the sight of the newcomers, but she seemed to know that she had gotten in over her head at that moment. Her faction was currently boxed in between two rival Gardens, and she didn't know how to get out without potentially sacrificing their lives or their pride, both of which seemed equally as important.

Trabia immediately got on the defensive, their stances changing slightly to accommodate any sudden movement from the opposition. "What are you doing here, Galbadia churl?" The leader called out.

"Oh, just on vacation." The leader of the Galbadians airily imitated the haughty demeanor of the Trabians, inciting snickers from his lackeys.

"I doubt it." Relena sneered. "What are you planning? This seems too... well-timed to be coincidence."

"Always on the up and up, I see." The Galbadian replied. "Is your kind always looking for a conspiracy?"

"When it comes to YOUR kind doing anything that does not revolve around mediocre bar fights, I don't consider it a 'conspiracy'. I'd like to think of it as mere fact."

Laughing openly and heartily, the Galbadian SeeD didn't try to hide the glint in his eye. "Oh. Well, then let's get right to the point, shall we?"

Multiple things happened seemingly within a mere moment.

The first was the tale-tell shot of a rifle that made everyone except the Galbadians jump. The bullet found its mark in the shoulder of one of the Trabians, sending the SeeD spiraling down to the cobblestone street in a faint shower of blood and surprise. Relena glanced back at her teammate in shock as the crowd of spectators finally sent enough signals to their heads to do what any crowd of onlookers would do when things got too heavy; scream and run like hell in every direction, causing a riot. While the leader of the Trabians was distracted, Tonya decided it was a good time to launch herself at the girl, causing them both to fall to the ground in a mini-catfight of the century. In the meantime, the rest of the faction group decided to take matters into their own hands and split between attacking the Trabians and the Galbadians with all the mighty valor protesters with signs could be. The combat specialists turned most of these efforts into a slaughter, freeing up room to get at their main targets that were torn between fending off rabid Timber Wolves and getting their injured friend out of harm's way. Another shot rang out, scattering more panic into the masses and swamping the streets with uncontrollable stampedes.

"MY GOD, THIS IS MADNESS!!" Sharon clutched her best friends arm in an effort to keep her close despite the cacophony that suddenly erupted. "We need to do something! Tonya's gonna get herself killed out there, and that sharpshooter will eventually hit an innocent bystander!"

Gina racked the part of her brain that wasn't already in shambles. "I'll try my best to get Tonya out of there; I've got enough spells stocked to shield me and her from the worst of it, although I can't say for sure what to do about the rest of the Timber Wolves. Can you try and stop that sharpshooter?"

"I think so. There's only one good vantage point that I can discern from where we are, and it's probably where the son-bitch is stationed. I'll meet you back at their headquarters, success pending."

With that, Sharon disappeared into the crowd, leaving Gina to struggle with her new task. Steeling herself, she made her way through the sea of people like a typical New Yorker probably would; with much elbowing, toe stepping, pushing, and shoving. When she got through the first wave, she had to start using more offensive measures to get through to Tonya and to ensure both of their safety. Using an old trick of hers, she was able to point out two Galbadians and froze their feet to the ground with a quick Blizzard spell, literally stopping them in their tracks while they tried to free themselves. She then took out her bow and loaded an arrow into it, knowing that she had to time it right to prevent from hitting anyone else. Letting it rip, she managed to clear the space between the two fighting girls, distracting them from clobbering the hell out of each other. She reached in then and grabbed Tonya by the arm, using all of her strength to pull her up. The blue-haired girl was a little bit worse for wear, her eye swelling and her lip busted. At that point in time, a Trabian mowed into them, sending both Gina and Tonya to the ground painfully while the Trabia SeeD clashed weapons with Galbadia's weapons specialist. What ensued next was a pretty nifty show of blocks, turns, kicks and the occasional aerodynamically impossible move that made movies like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon famous for its choreography.

As much as she probably would have liked to play spectator to an impressive fight between two SeeDs, her main goal was to get Tonya to safety. Noticing that one of the Trabians was a mage in her own right and was now flinging spells out at an impossible rate, Gina quickly encased both her and Tonya in a cocoon of Shell, Protect, and Reflect spells before beginning to fight her way back through the crowd in the general direction of the building. This process was made harder due to the fact that Tonya was in a semi-state of shock and just a little more than dead weight, but eventually they both made it, where Gina collapsed exhausted on the pavement safely outside of all of the action.

Now, Tonya appeared to come back to herself, and she looked horrified down at Gina and shook her shoulder briskly. "Hey! You okay?"

Gina worked hard to clear the fuzziness that threatened to cloud her mind. She had almost forgotten how hard it was to past spells the normal way; while she was free of the previous threat of being consumed by a well of sorceress power, she now had to rely on her own concentration and effort to maintain what she wanted to cast and it was something she hadn't entirely considered enough to spend the time to hone her mind for tasks like the one she just accomplished. "Shouldn't I be asking you that question?"

Tonya touched a finger to her lip and shrugged. "You should see the OTHER chick. C'mon, let's get back to base." She shot a worried look back at the fracas. "I hope the others get out of there okay..."


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N:** So, another long hiatus, and now I'm back. Do you see a pattern? Yeah... I thought so. Don't worry; I don't like it any more than you all do. It seems like I either have no time to update when I want to really update, and then when I do have time my muse has abandoned me and I'm on a writer's block of doom. But now that I've chained my muse down long enough to get this chapter and the next out, I'm sated. XD I hope everyone's Christmas holiday turned out well, however it was spent! New Years is coming up, so that means... don't get too drunk. That's my job. :D

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"What in the BLOODY HELL HAPPENED OUT THERE?" Watts yelled, causing Gina and Tonya to flinch. Their personal injuries were nothing compared to the bite his voice had when they reappeared at their base. Stragglers from the unexpected brawl were slowly trickling in, many of them with broken bones or similar ailments like the ones Tonya sported. One of them was even unfortunate enough to get nicked by what looked like a Firaga spell. The Timber Wolves that didn't participate in the fight were running around digging up all sorts of Potions and other healing agents to mend what they could, but their supplies weren't the best and there were still some things a specialized healer or doctor would have to touch up.

"Uh... well... you see..." Gina stammered, then cleared her throat. Staring off an explanation with "you see what had happened was" is never good, although Sharon always seemed to go for that approach, anyway. "Let's... take this to your office so we can sort this out?"

Without another word, Watts turned and stormed up the stairs to his office that he shared with Zone, leaving the two females to follow him. Zone was somehow doing a relatively good job doing his part to help tend to the injured masses, despite pausing to nurse random stomach spasms. Gina made a sideways glance to him in pity, really wishing she had a roll of Tums to give to him like she did last time.

Once the three were safely behind a closed door, Tonya plopped herself down in a nearby chair, one that Zone would normally occupy. She hadn't bothered to heal her injuries, and was pretty much functioning as if they didn't exist.

"Don't blame her. It's my fault, since I technically started it." The blue-haired girl sighed. "She got my ass out of there as it was."

"Well, actually, it's no one's fault... well, not any of the Timber Wolves, I don't think." Gina opted. "From what I saw, they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and wound up in the middle of a brawl. It could have been anybody."

Watts just face palmed, muttering something under his breath. "Hyne, I knew this was a bad idea. I KNEW it..." He removed his hand and looked at Gina. "Where's your friend?"

"We split up, since the Galbadians had a sharpshooter in hiding and she thought she knew where he'd be hiding. The way those bullets were being fired, all you'd need is some kid being hit by mistake."

Watts nodded and sighed, regarding Tonya with something like a bit of exasperation. "I hope you realize just how lucky you are to be alive right now."

Tonya shrugged. "Whatever. If it was just me, then I wouldn't care. I just feel bad because we got outsiders involved."

"Some outsiders..." Tonya looked at Watts with a puzzled expression at his last statement, but the office door opening distracted both of them and Sharon walking in, looking a bit winded but relatively untouched.

"Hey guys!" She chirped, in stark contrast to the situation at hand. "The sharpshooter's taken care of. It really wasn't that hard, really. She was so busy focusing on her targets in front of her that she didn't expect someone like me to sneak up on her and knock her unconscious." She held up her staff and caressed it. "Didn't know these babies could crack guns like a twig, for real! I will TOTALLY have to praise Jenkins for this when we get back."

Gina smiled, happy to see that her best friend wasn't in the condition the rest of the group was. "Well, good to have you back, Sharii-chan." Her expression turned serious. "What's the status?"

"What, of the Jerry Springer shit that just went down? Show's over, for the most part. The civilians running around like chickens with their heads cut off along with the Timber Wolves being there kind of foiled whatever the Galbadians were planning to trap the Trabians in, because during it all it seems like they escaped. That, and when they find out their sharpshooter's out of commission, I don't think they'd want to stick around here long enough to find out where the Trabians went. They're both one man down at this point in time. Thankfully, outside of the people who were directly involved, no one seems to be hurt outside of minor scratches and bruises from trying to get through it all. However..." Sharon paused and looked at Tonya. "I wouldn't be surprised if you got a larger audience for any future protests the Wolves might make. This certainly has the masses rattled; I'll assume shit like this doesn't happen very often."

"It's NEVER happened." Watts emphasized. "Even when we were toe to toe with the Army those four years ago, we didn't have outbreaks like this. The most we ever did was that mission that would have all gone down the drain if it wasn't for you guys and how the chain of events went going."

"Wait a minute, what?" Tonya asked, looking from Watts to Gina and Sharon. "They were with you back then? I thought they were just friends!"

Realizing they all had gotten a bit too comfortable and had said too much, the three of them did a quick mental head desk. "Well, you see... we kinda lied. Sorry." Sharon bluntly put.

Watts spoke up then. "Tonya, meet Gina and Sharon, otherwise known as two of the group of SeeDs who stopped Ultimecia four years ago. They've returned from whatever hole in the ground they were in all this time because they're on a mission to find Squall and a couple of others who happened to help us out awhile back."

Tonya just looked at them, a blank stare that wasn't because of lack of comprehension, but because she couldn't figure out which emotion of all of the ones she felt she should pick to be at the forefront. "SeeD..."

Gina immediately felt guilty for leading Tonya on all of that time. As it was, she didn't think she was a bad person, she just needed to fix her methods of accomplishing her goals. And after finding out from Watts that she was related to Martine, she couldn't imagine what kind of ill will the girl could be harboring that fueled her determination in helping the Timber Wolves. "Umm... yeah. We... gah..." There wasn't much she could figure to say to make the situation any better. _I just hope she takes into consideration that I DID save her life and not rip me a new one too badly._

Tonya suddenly burst out into laughter, but it was laced with bitterness and disbelief at the chain of events that had unfolded in front of her. "Isn't that just GREAT. One of the biggest days in Timber Wolves history where we finally have the proof we need to show the people that our cause isn't all the hogwash they think it is, and there are infiltrates right under our roof."

Sharon looked dismayed. "Hey, not really! You see what just happened out there? That was a load of funky bullshit that is one of the main things we've been charged to try and stop! We're not these new kinds of SeeD you see running around in uniform and causing mayhem; I'd like to think we were raised with better home training. And so far, the only ones I personally know to have their heads on straight in this time and age are the people we're trying to hard to find."

"So, what you're telling me is that you only have time to show up to save the world. It would've been nice to try and stop this BEFORE it came down to this, but I guess that's not worth it since you don't get the added bonus of "savior" status." Tonya scoffed.

The pink and purple haired girl deadpanned her. "Actually, that's NOT what I was telling you. Could you please stop trying to find reasons to be angry with us and LISTEN for once?"

"My hearing is FINE, thank you. Hyne, all you SeeD are the same, no matter what colors you represent. You either spend too much time fighting amongst one another or you get like Squall and become too comfortable in a high position to do anything but benefit from the turmoil the rest of us have to go through at your expense."

Gina's eye twitched, and she took up the reigns of the argument at this point, as much as she normally dreaded confrontation of this sort. "You don't know Squall enough to talk about him like that. He's not the person to do anything of what you just accused him of. I'll bet all my gil that you didn't know that he was on a important mission to stop outbreaks like the one you were just foolishly involved in. Someone who 'got too comfortable in his high position' wouldn't bother doing that, especially since the mission was SECRET so he couldn't 'benefit' from it, either. We're just here to get information so we can find him and probably make all of our lives easier at having a chance to stop this!"

Tonya just rolled her eyes, stubbornly set on her anger. "Well, he's not doing much a job on his 'mission', now is he?"

Sharon really wanted to pull her hair out in exasperation. _This is like talking to a motherfucking wall. _"Dude, HELLO, he's MISSING!"

"Then FINE! Let him stay missing! Everyone was better off without him anyway, especially Rinoa!" Tonya stood up then, glaring at both of them. "_I _was the one who had to hold her all the times he made her cry. _I_ was the one who had to keep her resolve whenever she doubted her new goal for the Timber Wolves. If you want to bet something, I'd bet all MY gil that the only thing he was good for was sleeping with her, because her FRIENDS did everything else that he was supposed to be doing for her! He never had the time to be there for her; Hyne, he couldn't even trust her enough to depend on her fully! I bet you don't know how much that killed her inside, knowing that she'd probably always love him more than what he'd ever give her. And if he's really our only hope to solving all of our problems, then I'll be the first one to accurately predict that we're all FUCKING SCREWED." With that, Tonya brushed past them all and stormed out of the office, slamming the door with so much force that it rattled the hinges and made a couple of stray papers flutter to the ground.

An awkward silence followed shortly thereafter, with Gina struggling to get her emotions under control, Sharon trying to figure out just where in the hell THAT outburst came from, and Watts wearily pouring himself a cup of coffee as if things like this happened daily.

"Uh... what the fuck was that?" Sharon finally spoke up.

"Tonya's temper." Watts answered, taking a sip from his mug before placing it down on one of the few clear spaces on the desk. "Believe it or not, give her a couple of hours, and she'll calm down about it. She's bit off everyone's head at least once for something or another; these days it's been rough on all of us with Rinoa missing and things outside escalating, so her nerves must be extra frazzled."

"Well... I don't care as long as she doesn't go and tell everyone that we're around." Gina said. "Our mission is made a lot easier without people recognizing us at every corner."

"I don't think she will. Other than spite, she nor the Timber Wolves have anything to gain from it. In any case, she will remember that you saved her behind out there, so that should be enough for her to keep her mouth shut." Watts looked absentmindedly out of the window, a thoughtful expression on his face. A few more moments of him inwardly contemplating something, he turned to face them. "I know it's not my place to ask this of you, but do you think you can do me a favor?"

"What is that?" Gina asked, but already knowing his plea before he said it.

"If you find anything on Rinoa, could you let us know? I can only imagine how much your hands are full trying to find Squall and the others, but if you stumble upon anything..." He trailed off, a glint of hopelessness in his gaze as if he was expecting Gina and Sharon to reject him due to everything that transpired that day.

"We'll see what we can do." Gina replied. "There aren't any guarantees, though. We DO have a lot on our plate as it is, and if luck is with you, she'll turn up before we're even done doing what we've been charged to do."

That answer seemed to be enough to put his worries at ease, as Watts immediately relaxed and let out a breath of relief. "Thank you. You know... maybe it's foolish of me, but I've always trusted you guys. Even when I heard that Rinoa and Squall were having some issues, I never really lost faith in him. Couldn't tell that to either of those females though, because it probably would have gotten me nothing but a dirty glare and kick to the balls. I still stand by our cause, since it's better than just sitting around and watching everything fall apart. But... I did go overboard earlier when I said I didn't care about your mission. Things have just been... not so good. Sometimes I don't see how we hold it together."

"Sounds like both you and Headmaster Cid are having the same kinds of problems." Sharon said, patting Watts on the shoulder. "The only thing I can say is that I hope things get better for you guys, honestly. I won't even hold Tonya to her words; we can say some mean shit in our anger, let me tell you. I think one of the first times I encountered Squall at Balamb Garden I chewed him out over something similar about being on a 'SeeD given high horse', but I think all I was trying to do was provoke him. That... and Tonya is Martine's NIECE. You can't be mad for long at someone with a history like THAT."

Watts cracked a small smile. "You must really dislike the guy, huh?"  
"Heh heh, that's putting it lightly." Sharon withdrew her hand and turned to Gina. "Well... I don't think that we're gonna find anything else out sticking around here, as interesting as this stop has been. I think we should head for Esthar, next."

Gina made a face. "Esthar? Isn't that place shut down to the public?"

"... oh. Yeah. Shit. Umm... there HAS to be a way in there, or something. But, first things first." She turned back to Watts. "Do you think after that little mishap in the square today that they shut down the trains?"

He shrugged. "I don't think so. If you're going off of what happened last time there was action like that here, they only shut down the trains because they knew we used them to attack the President. I don't see what they'd have to gain by closing off Timber; it'd draw more negative attention towards the SeeD situation, and that's still something the media and Timber is trying to ignore. The people might be more receptive now after today's events, but that says nothing about the government. From their point of view, nobody was hurt outside of a little resistance group that mouths off about things they probably shouldn't be talking about, so I doubt they'll pay us any mind."

Gina tsked. "That's a bit messed up. I don't like to see SeeD in this state, but to just ignore it? People could have been killed!"

"It's the world we live in, unfortunately. You guys must have REALLY been out in Hyne knows where to not know all of this. I'm kind of curious just to know where you've been all this time, but I guess that'll have to wait when times aren't so urgent, right?"

"Yeah. And even then, I think you'd have to be a little loony to believe us if we told you, anyway." Sharon wrapped up. "But... thanks for the hospitality. We're gonna get out of here and pray to Hyne that we don't run into any more mishaps on the way to the train station. Hang in there, Watts, okay? And tell Zone to stop stressing so much and to spend more time playing with Angelo; I think it'd help both of them out."

Gina and Sharon left the office then, trudging down the stairs and going out through the front door. Thankfully, they didn't run into Tonya on the way out; they didn't know if she was cooled down yet or still had some choice words for them or SeeD, and it wasn't something that they looked upon favorably to be on the receiving end. Still rather adamant on getting to Esthar, Sharon booked two tickets for the next closest destination, which happened to be Fisherman's Horizon. She kept muttering about how if they had to WALK to Esthar, then they'd do it. Gina, however, wasn't really keen on walking that much of a distance; it was at least a mile and a half from the shore of the Great Salt Lake to where Fisherman's Horizon was stationed, and even though they did it before years ago it didn't seem all that long due to the fact that they were a group and had loads of entertainment. Sharon might have had the foresight to bring her iPod, but Gina didn't think following an endless line of railroad tracks spanning large bodies of water was a good idea.

"Sharii-chan..." Gina waited until they were in their cabin to broach the subject. "I understand now why you wanted to get to Timber so badly, and I'm sorry that it didn't work out like it should have. But... why Esthar? Have you even worked it all out in your head how we're even going to get there, let alone get IN?"

Sharon stood in the middle of the room, a bit too caught up to want to sit down at the moment. "Well... kind of. It's along the lines what I had hoped to do in Timber in the first place. Think about it; who do we know in Esthar? Well... a certainly hot president, for one. And we also know an insane doctor, whom I want to ask a few questions."

"... I don't see how this has anything to do with finding Squall."

"Yeah well, I don't see how agreeing to help find a bipolar Timber princess has anything to do with finding him, either." Sharon scoffed, plopping down on the seat finally. "I don't hate the girl... not really, anyway... and it is kinda fucked up that she's gone missing along with the rest of the folks we're trying to find. But I swear, if we keep adding people to our roster, I might just invest in 'Have you seen me?' ads on the sides of milk cartons."

Gina just blinked at her best friend for a minute, and Sharon actually thought she was seriously considering her joke idea. "Sharii-chan... why are you rattling?"

Now it was Sharon's turn to turn her lip up in confusion. "Um... I dunno, my brain certainly has been stable in its cocoon for a bit, so I don't think it's that... OH!" She remembered the bottle of pills she swiped from Rinoa's room then, and dished them out of her jeans pocket. "Get a load of this. I knew I had a good reason for going to Esthar." She tossed them to Gina, who caught it easily and turned it around in her hand.

"What is this for?" Gina puzzled. "And how did you come by it?"

"I clepto'd it from Rinoa's room while Zone was busy taking Angelo outside. I know, it's wrong to steal, and I probably don't give black folks any more credit where stereotypes are involved, but I'd like to think that it's for a better cause. And it's not like Rinoa'll be back to use them any time soon anyway, so I figured there's no harm in it. I'm just curious to exactly what it is, and WHY she thinks it's a good idea to ingest anything Odine makes."

"Hmm... maybe allergies? Either way, now I'm curious myself. Although I can't help but think that we're going way off track, here." Gina handed the white container back to Sharon.

"I don't blame you. To be honest, I have no idea what the fuck we're doing. But that's nothing new, is it?" She sprawled out in her seat, letting the constant slow chugging motion of the train lull her into a contemplative state. "I'm really glad it wasn't him, G-fuu." She said quietly, almost too low for Gina to catch.

"Hmm?"

"The sharpshooter today. I was... kind of afraid of who I'd find up there. When I found out it wasn't him... I was relieved, yes. It made doing what I had to do easier, and I will still remember the 'o shi-' look on her face as I knocked her upside her head. That was actually pretty funny. But I was also disappointed, since it would have been one less person to find. But if it really happened to be Irvine? I don't know what I would have done, looking back on it all. Probably would have froze in my tracks, stuck between cursing him out, dragging him back to Balamb Garden, or probably all of the above. Either way... I would have been pretty shocked."

Gina got up from her place and sat down next to Sharon. "Sharii-chan... Irvine may be stuck in Martine's clutches right now, but he's still the same old cowboy. I don't think he'd stoop to be a part of any of this that is going on right now."

"But how do we know that for sure? Shit's already been happening that we never thought would go down. Love life drama? Disappearing persons? SeeD wars? It makes anything possible."

"But you have to have faith in the few things that we can actually count on." Gina pressed. "If you think of things too relative like that... what do we have left? Why are we even here? What are we working for? You're the one that told me not to judge Squall just based on what I read from his blog, and this is going along the same lines. We really don't know what's going on where he's concerned, but we just have to hope for the best. That goes for our mission, too. We have to stop thinking in terms of 'this is freaking impossible'. Even if it's in a joking manner, it'll start to affect us majorly sooner or later. And the last thing I want to do is give up. If we have to comb this entire globe, then we'll do it. It didn't take too long to do in FFVIII, especially with the Ragnarok." She joked, hoping to get a smile out of her best friend.

Sharon's eyes snapped wide and she sat bolt upright, giving Gina start. "The Ragnarok! Fuck, why didn't we think of that before? It'd make traveling a whole lot easier, that's for sure!"

Gina took a moment to calm her heart down from the pace it had risen up to at Sharon's sudden exclamation. "That is true, but if it was readily accessible, then I think maybe Cid would have given it to us prior to our departure? It's probably at the airstation in Esthar."

"Then we really need to find a way to break into that city, then. I'm sure they'll cut us some slack as soon as we let them know that we personally know Laguna." Sharon scratched her forehead. "You don't think the 'back entrance' we used last time is still open, do you?"

"I don't know. If Esthar became as popular as Cid said it did, you'd think they would have fixed that patch up by now. But nevertheless, it's probably our best bet at trying to get in there. So... would that make our next key destination the Great Salt Lake?"

"I guess so. If we can't find some kind of train to hitchhike to the borders of the city when we get to FH, then maybe Mayor Dobe and his, uh, wife Flo will let us cash in on a favor. I mean... we DID save their asses from Galbadian Army trash."

"Of which we were kind of responsible for leading there in the first place. But, you know, it has been 4 years. Maybe he's forgotten all about that."


	15. Chapter 14

**A/N:** Since I can't put out single chapters without feeling funny, I wait until I have two completed chapters... which would be all good, if I didn't always get stuck on the next chapter for weeks at a time. Sigh. Well, anyway, this chapter includes a cameo from another one of TheParadox's OCs from her FFVIII fic (that still isn't uploaded to the site... Gina, get a move on!), Leather Skin. Someday, I should stop stealing her characters and actually use my own or something. :D

* * *

"Wow. It looks like Fisherman's Horizon isn't just for the fish, anymore." Gina commented, examining her surroundings. Sharon was definitely inclined to agree.

No matter where the girls turned, and how many places (out of the few they had managed to visit thus far) they went to, it seemed to be a strange mix of what should be normalcy and unbalanced insanity. They didn't quite know what was a product of so much time passing, or whether it was another side effect of the war that was threatening to engulf everything in its wake. Both of them were realizing just how crazy things were just from the surprise skirmish that broke out in Timber. It definitely put into perspective all of what was troubling Cid enough to disembark his few remaining non-insane veterans on a mission in which none knew what they'd discover.

Fisherman's Horizon was stationed in its usual position, in the middle of the ocean at a direct midpoint between the continent that Balamb was stationed and the continent that housed the city of Esthar. The port was circular based, with its many solar panels glinting upwards to make the most use out of the sun's rays. All of that was what was undeniably unchanged. What was different were the hordes of people that seemed to crowd the cobblestone walkways of the port town, and the sights that attracted them. There were many new hotels and cafes dotting the entire place, catering to the trendy customers that idled by from establishment to establishment. Everything was so brightly lit, Sharon began to wonder if the power the town received via its solar panels was enough to keep all of it running, or if there was a secondary power source somewhere. They caught sight of flashing billboard ads for concerts on the weekends, upcoming events... and there was even a small casino.

"So... who died and made FH the new Las Vegas?" Sharon snorted. "Did Mayor Dobe bite the dust and someone with a lot of cash give this place a supreme facelift?"

"I have no idea. I wonder if we could find a way to talk to the mayor. On the small chance that he would remember us, maybe he could shoe us in to Esthar or otherwise know a way in." Gina mused. She best knew the way to the house, despite the many obvious changes the rounded harbor had gone through. Thankfully, the location of the abode hadn't been moved, and was one of the few things left on FH that still looked the same.

However, their luck seemed to run short then, because they were almost immediately stopped and turned away by a deceptively innocent looking group of men who were the mayor's bodyguards. There was nothing they could have said that would have gotten them through, short of confessing their identities and hoping it wouldn't blow up in their faces, but Gina decided that the risk wasn't worth it.

"What kind of ghey shit is this?" Sharon snarled as they retraced their steps back the way they had come. "Since when does that old peace-loving fart get important enough to have his own police force?"

Shrugging, Gina let out a sigh. She didn't know how much she had been looking forward to seeing Esthar again until situations arose where it seemed to just be another block in their path. More and more, it was looking to be a certainty that they would have to walk the railroad tracks all the way to the other side, and for some reason crossing vast amounts of water with just a thin bridge separating them from it didn't sound so appealing. Not to mention it wasn't confirmed if the tracks were still used.

"Well... the sun is beginning to set, now. So regardless, I don't think we can make any more headway today. Our best bet is to just snag a room, sleep in until the morning, and figure out what to do then." Sharon looked around until she spotted the first hotel that came into sight, and started making her way towards it.

As it turned out, the hotel was combined with a casino, as was apparently the norm for a lot of the new establishments on FH due to the fact that it wasn't really meant to be a bustling tourist stop. Immediately, both the girls felt underdressed among the older individuals that were pimped out with what seemed like the latest fashions. Ignoring the odd glances they got from the patrons, Sharon walked firmly up to the desk and asked if there were any free rooms.

"Alright, room 305." She walked back to her best friend moments later, looking half-relieved. "I am SO glad that they didn't ask for ID, because I don't know what we would have told them. HEY! Does that mean we finally look our age?"

Gina laughed for a bit, taking in her friend's hopeful look and shaking her head. "Sharii-chan... I don't know about that. I think in some ways, we still look pretty young." They might have changed in miniscule ways, but they were just getting to the point where they could look at high school photos of themselves and see how far they had come.

"Oh... well, it was worth a shot." They began their trek through the bottom floor, bypassing tables and machines and blinking lights. "You know what the freakiest part about this is? That it's really not too different from the casinos I've been in back home."

Gina nodded. Neither of them were gamblers, but Sharon had stayed in a casino-hotel during a trip to the Mall of America some years back and knew what to expect. Gina sometimes visited the Motor City Casino back in Detroit with her parents if the mood suited her, but it was mostly just to see what the big hype was about. Even after coming and going a few times, nothing about it really appealed to her. She guessed it was maybe because she wasn't the type to get addicted to anything besides a good video game. "You know what I could see being really addicting, though? Slot machines." She nodded in the direction to a row of brightly lit machines that seemed buffed to the point that they shone the reflection of anyone that passed by. "I tried them for a couple of times back at home, and if you don't make yourself stop, then that'd be the main thing you'd go broke on."

"Oh, really?" Sharon raised an eyebrow. "I must admit, when I first stayed at that one hotel I was too young to actually get away with trying anything out without feeling extremely guilty or self-conscious. So... I guess now's the best time to try! Not doing anything else right now, anyway."

Making her way over to the row of machines, she sat down at the one nearest to the aisle and blinked at it confused for a moment, almost dazzled by the lights and sounds flashing in front of her. "So... how's this work?"

"I think you put gil in this slot here." Gina pointed to an opening on the front of it, and Sharon quickly dished out a handful of coins and punched them in. "Okay, G-fuu, I think I got this, now. All I have to do is line up shit in a row, right?"

"Well... yeah, basically."

"SWEET! Okay! How much you wanna bet getting a row of chocobos equals mega winnings?" Pulling the handle on the right of her, she watched eagerly as the lit slots lined up randomly. To her surprise, she didn't get the mega winnings she had hoped for, but evidently she lined up enough to get a fair amount of gil back for her troubles with just that one spin. Fascinated and not really understanding what had to be done to get whatever desired result, she quickly put back some gil into the machine and pulled the handle again.

_Oh, geez. I really hope she doesn't get addicted to this and we end up broke. Well, I'll just stand here and watch to make sure that things don't get out of hand. _As her best friend's eyes started to slowly glaze over, Gina let her own gaze over her surroundings and found them on what seemed like one of the few younger patrons the casino attracted. Unlike she and Sharon, the young man was dressed very well to blend in with everyone else in attendance. His black suit was free of wrinkles, but he opted for having the jacket unbuttoned, revealing a white-button down blouse that was partly untucked from his trousers. He was situated about four or five machines down the same row the girls were stationed, and he was too playing a slot game. While Sharon almost had her nose to the screen at times as if to see a match before it lined up, the other guy was playing lazily, the heel of one foot propped up on the seat of his chair. He gazed at the machine with a half-lidded look that almost screamed a "devil may care" attitude, moving only just enough to feed more gil into the machine if needed. As Gina looked on, she noticed that his hair was completely silver and styled in a popular semi-messy state that sent strands that would normally be at a uniform length at his chin pointing in haphazard but oddly planned layered directions. There was also a long ponytail sneaking out from the nape of his neck, hanging freely off of the back of his chair, somehow adding to the entire look she wasn't sure he knew if he was consciously going for or not.

"OH MY FUCKING GOD!" Sharon exclaimed suddenly, jolting Gina out of her trance of observing the stranger back to what was in front of her. "DID YOU FUCKING SEE THAT? I HAD JUST ALMOST GOT A FULL ROW OF CHOCOBOS!! This shit is SO rigged!"

Patting her on the shoulder in some sort of effort to calm her down from her outburst, Gina found herself self-consciously glancing back up to where she saw the silver haired man. To her surprise, she found that Sharon's exclamation had apparently attracted his attention, and he was looking at the pair with an indescribable look on his face. As brown eyes met startlingly vibrant green ones, Gina's shock melted into horror as she saw something in his expression change.

_Crap. He knows who we are._

"Okay, so I just did this ONE MORE TIME... and it did the same thing AGAIN! I am this close to putting my foot through the screen, you have NO clue." Sharon looked up to her best friend to see if she was watching the obvious heresy that the slot machine was pulling on her and found her attention focused on a point somewhere in the distance. Whipping her head around, she caught sight of a figure getting up from a slot machine gracefully and walking in their direction. Gina was frozen in her spot because she wasn't really sure what to do without causing a scene, and Sharon was stuck because she couldn't believe how incredibly handsome the guy was. Both of them met the stranger with similar gaping looks when he finally came within a respectable distance, and a moment of silence passed as they all were stuck for words.

Sharon was the first to break the silence. "God DAMN, you're hot." As soon as the words passed from her lips, her eyes widened and she clamped a hand over her mouth as if to stop any more oral diarrhea from happening seemingly without her consent.

Looking her over without being intrusive with his gaze, a smile graced a corner of his mouth. "You're not too bad, yourself." He turned his attention towards the slot machine in front of her that had gone completely neglected in the recent chain of events. "It looks like you're having a bit of trouble with the game. Believe it or not, there is a kind of knack to it. Here, let me show you." Before any of the girls had time to react, he reached forward and took Sharon's right hand in his own and moved it back to the slot machine handle. Leaning down behind her so that he was level with her opposite ear, he instructed, "Try not to pull on it like you've been doing. Instead, slowly ease the handle down until you see the slots start to turn. Yes, like that."

Sharon was not listening or paying attention to a word he was saying or what the mechanics of the slot machines were. Her attention had narrowed down to the feel of his hand on top of hers, and the sound of his voice that was so close to her ear. _Jesus Christ. Who knew gambling could be so erotic? What the fuck have I been missing out on this whole time?_

Gina watched this whole exchange with a protective eye. She couldn't blame Sharon for being so taken by the stranger, however Gina was automatically protective and defensive to just about any male that exhibited such an obvious interest in her best friend. Not to mention, she had more of an excuse than the usual semi-possessive streak she kept carefully hidden to outsiders; this man certainly had an idea of who they were, and she was planning to find out exactly what it is he thought he knew.

Waiting until there was a semi-break in the impromptu gambling lessons he was giving her, Gina cleared her throat. "So, who are you?"

Looking over to her calmly, he straightened up, effectively letting Sharon come back to her senses. "Should I be asking you that question?"

Gina tilted her head, her black and red braids falling behind her shoulders. "I think you already know who we are."

"Wait, wha?" Sharon looked back and forth between the guy and her best friend, sensing a small level of tension arise from between them. "G-fuu?"

A moment passed, and the young man was the first to break the ice by giving a surprisingly warm smile. Offering his hand out to Gina, he introduced himself. "Yaten Tenou. You must be Gina."

As Sharon almost fell out of her chair in shock, Gina waiting a few moments before accepting his hand. He seemed nice, and he really WAS very good-looking. Now that the tension had melted, all that was left was curiosity. The only people that she could rationally think of that would know who they were at a moment's glance was someone who was close to them in Balamb Garden... but that wouldn't be possible since she couldn't remember seeing or meeting anyone like him four years ago.

"Okay! This has certainly become interesting." Sharon spoke up after taking a moment to gather herself. "In any case... let's discuss this someplace less public just in case someone else decides to take an interest in our identities." Looking around, Sharon remembered the keys in her front pocket of her jeans. "Well, this is going to seem like we're picking you up, but the closest place I can think of that's also the most secure is our room we have yet to actually go into."

Yaten gave an easy-going shrug and stepped back, extending his arm to the side. "I don't think I have any problem with that. Lead the way."

Blushing and trying to keep her wits about her, Sharon led the other two to a nearby elevator that they all took to the third floor. Realizing a bit late how the hotel room she booked was the exact same number as her dorm room back at GV, she chuckled a bit to herself and slid the key into the door. Taking some time to find the light switch, she waited until they were all in the room before closing the door behind them and taking a seat on one of the beds, across from the one Gina had plopped down on. Yaten settled for a neutral seat in a chair across from both of them, turning it around so he could more comfortably face them.

"So... how do you know of us again?" Sharon started, feeling like she missed out on a lot.

Laughing as if it was an inside joke, Yaten took a moment before replying. "Well, believe it or not... I'm very good friends with a person I'm sure you know quite well, by the name of Irvine Kinneas."

Both Gina and Sharon wished that their mouths would stop unhinging at inopportune moments, but it really couldn't be helped at tidbits of information like that.

Taking the liberty to explain himself more, he continued. "We trained together as cadets at Galbadia Garden. It seems like such a long time ago, now, seeing as though a lot of things have changed since then."

"Are you still a SeeD there?" Gina asked.

"Unfortunately, yes." He gave a bittersweet smile. "There was a point in time where I would have been honored to be a part of such a prestigious group, but with things being the way they are now, I tend to spent more time as unassociated with it as I can be. I think I got the lucky straw, seeing as though I'm one of the few who specialized in healing and not any of the offensive arts most aim for, so outside of patching up the next SeeD who comes in bleeding because a pointless brawl someone started, I can pretty much go by unnoticed." He let out a snort. "It's probably for the better; Martine and I aren't the best of friends."

Sharon let out a loud laugh. "Well, it's no wonder you and that cowboy are buddies, then. You have enough in common to be the standing resistance against Headmaster Martine. Although you're a helluva lot smoother with the flirting game."

"Really? Irvine would hate to hear that; he taught me everything I know. However..." Yaten's mood visibly sombered, and his gaze shifted slightly to the ground.

Gina did not like where the conversation was going. "However?"

"Irvine's not... doing too well." Yaten explained carefully. "Ever since Martine literally dragged him back to Galbadia, I think a large part of him died. He tried even hiding the beginning stages of it from me, even though he knew that I knew better. In some ways, I wonder what's really left of my old friend. Hell, if it wasn't for him, he would have never convinced me to grow this ridiculous rat tail." He flicked his ponytail absent-mindedly. "I suppose it grew on me, though. That, and it helped that it wasn't actually allowed in the 'dress code'."

Trading glances with each other, neither Gina nor Sharon knew what to say. They had figured Irvine wasn't happy back at G-Garden, but to the extent they could only guess. Hearing one of his best friends sound so dejected over his condition made a large rock of foreboding form even deeper in their guts. They couldn't do anything about it right then and there, no matter how much they wanted to; their mission to their Headmaster came first, even if they didn't exactly know where they were going with it.

Noticing that they had all trailed off, Yaten cleared his throat and moved a few stray strands of silver hair out of his eyes. "Sorry to get so downtrodden on you; I'm not sure that's what either of you wanted to hear about a friend. But you know, I'm sure if he knew that you guys were around, it'd help him come to his senses a bit. There's not much around at Galbadia to look forward to, believe me. Speaking of which... just what ARE you two doing around here? Last I heard, you were in your own world with no real way of getting back here."

Gina nodded. "Yeah... that's what we thought, too. But... some unexpected circumstances arose, and Headmaster Cid found a way to bring us back for a very important but almost hopelessly impossible mission."

Intrigued, he titled his head to the side. "Really? What mission is this?"

Sharon blew her bangs off of her forehead. "Well, it's kind of like a follow-up mission of a mission, if that makes any sense. This whole thing that's going on between the gardens is something that is definitely not normal. Cid thought something was up, so he sent out Squall, Zell, and Selphie to see what they could dig up, if anything. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, they just up and disappear and have been gone for what I would estimate to be a month, now. So... Gina and I are trying to pick up a trail to see if we can find out what happened to them. For an ordinary SeeD, this may seem really freaking impossible, because how..." She trailed off and blinked at Yaten. "What's up?"

For an already fair-skinned man, his tone had seemed to go even a few shades lighter during the course of the explanation. He just stared at her, a sense of loss quite apparent in his emerald orbs. "Selphie's gone?"

_Oh, shit._ "Um... yeah. Were you two, uh..."

He just looked at her and nodded, another half smile playing on his lips that didn't help to lighten the mood.

"Ooohh... well..." Sharon glanced over at Gina for help.

"We'll find her." Gina told Yaten firmly. "We'll find all of them. We might have mentioned that our mission might seem impossible, but last time we were on an impossible mission we ended up beating the odds and saving the world, so it's nothing we aren't accustomed to at this point. I'm just sorry that you had to find out like this."

"No, it's... it's fine." Yaten said. "I think I'd rather find out this way than another, less favorable way, if you get my drift. It's still a blow, though... Selphie and I couldn't communicate very well once things started getting a bit more crazy between the gardens, especially any contact or visitation between Balamb and Galbadia. Her diary really was the only form of contact that I had with her, and that's only when she had time to update and when I had time to check. It became pretty normal for a couple of weeks or so to go by without us hearing from each other... so a part of me didn't think too much of it when more time went by without a word. I just figured... Hyne..." He ran a hand through his hair and sighed deeply. "Well, I guess what I should be asking is if there's anything I can do to help."

"Well, we do have a small dilemma." Sharon offered. "We're here because this is the closest point to getting into Esthar short of swimming across the goddamn ocean itself. Unfortunately, neither of us can swim. I know that Esthar's on lockdown right now and that there's no real way of actually walking in there normally, but right now all we need is a way over to the continent. I'm sure luck will shine down on us and give us the opening we need once we're there. I'm guessing the trains don't run out that way, anymore."

"Nope; there's really no need, especially now. There was a bit of trade going in and out, but it primarily came to a halt when Esthar closed its gates to the public. You're probably wondering why FH is so bustling now; it's trying to become the new Esthar."

"... that's pretty stupid. It'd take about 23 more Fisherman Horizon's to even equate to the surface area of Esthar alone. This place wasn't meant to be a tourist trap, it's more for folks who want a quiet place to settle down." Gina mused.

Yaten nodded his agreement. "You guys missed out on the fun when it came to this place. The moment more traffic started filing through from one place to the other, the Mayor decided it was a good time to capitalize on all of the commerce so that it would supposedly be more fair for all of the inhabitants of FH. But rumors are going around that it wasn't actually Dobe's idea, that he was kind of sold on it by his wife. Anyway, FH started going through the beginning stages, and the whole place was split between the people who thought it was a good idea and those who thought it was a bad idea. Over time, more and more people started thinking it disrupted the peace they lived in for so long, so those who had enough did a mass exodus to some of the smaller mainland towns like Balamb and Winhill. Those more ambitious left for Esthar while they could. There's still enough folks out here to help FH retain its namesake, but almost all of them are commercialized and more like sight-seeing attractions than what it's really supposed to be."

"That's... really fucked up, just like everything else we've encountered as of late." Sharon said. "I don't think SeeD is the only one going nuts these days."

"Yeah... I think the whole world is reacting in one way or another to the imbalance that's all over us. I can't say for sure what triggered what, but either way something's got to give." Yaten paused as he regressed into his thoughts for a moment, then he snapped his fingers. "I think I've got a way for you guys to at least get over there. Either of you know how to pilot a motorboat?"

Sharon made a horrified face, but Gina waved it off. "We're fast learners. You got one?"

"Yeah. I used to rent the same one out a lot for whenever Selphie and I were able to go out on dates. She loved steering that thing, let me tell you. But yeah, I can give you the keys to it. The guy at the dock won't mind; just mention me and he should let you borrow it at no cost." He rummaged in his pocket and took out a small pair of keys on a metal key chain and tossed it to Sharon, who caught them and examined the tag. The number of the dock was printed in large numbers on one side, while the ID tag of the boat was listed on the opposite side.

"So... any chance you wanna, uh... drive us there?" Sharon tried with a sheepish smile.

"I'd love to, but I can't. I've actually better be making it back to base right about now before I'm too horribly late. The trick about breaking rules and getting away with it is choosing which battles to fight. If I miss another day without checking in at least once, it could do me more harm than good." He got up out of the chair and stretched. "But... after meeting you two ladies, I think the punishment would be well worth it."

Sharon gave a smirk. "Oh, drop the flirting act. We all know now that you really just wanna get in on possibly saving Selphie."

Yaten shrugged and actually gave a real grin this time. "Well, you caught me there. But it really was a pleasure meeting both of you. I didn't think I'd get the chance and I'd be stuck vicariously living through Irvine's and Selphie's stories of your adventures. This won't be the last time we meet, I hope."

"Nope. Unless we drown tomorrow."

"Eh, you won't. Have more faith in yourself." Yaten walked over to the door and opened it before looking back. "When you find Selphie, tell her that no matter how much I may love her, she still owes me a rematch at the games down by the harbor on our next date. I'll see you around. Good luck."


	16. Chapter 15

**A/N: ** So, I wrote this chapter entirely by hand. Since time on the computer for me can sometimes be limited, in order to try and keep my muse going for as long as it can I whip out the old-fashioned method now and gruel it out over a series of days in my bedroom, being a recluse. I haven't hand-written a chapter since I wrote _Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Star_, and that was back in high school. I'm getting a writer's callous. D:!

* * *

"Sharii-chan... just trust me, it'll be fine." Gina tried reassuring her best friend while making sure everything was in order. The two girls managed to get up at a reasonable time and made it down to the correct harbor in order to take advantage of the boat Yaten had left for them. It was big enough for two people, and most obviously built for speed. Gina decided to try her hand at steering the craft while the most Sharon was able to do was shakily don her life jacket and sit in her seat while glancing at the water that would soon completely surround them.

"I don't like this, G-fuu." Sharon murmured, half stuck between grabbing hold of her life jacket and clutching the side of the boat for dear life. "Do you remember the last time black folks got in a boat?"

"Yes, I know, slavery happened." Gina fished off, the joke that her friend was decently famous for bringing up in times such as that. Sharon wasn't a militant advocate of civil rights - not with how politically incorrect she naturally was - but she just wanted anything to emphasize how much she hated water. Outside of a shower, bath, or hot tub, she stayed far away from large quantities of it. There was an intense fear of drowning that she inherited somewhere along the way, and any time she was offered swimming lessons from Jae or a chance to go on a cruise, she declined feverently with an almost crazed look in her eye.

"Man, we could get lost or some shit!"

"Not really." Gina settled into the driver's seat and pointed to the tall bridge that extended from one end of Fisherman's Horizon into the distance that held the railway tracks. With the sun glinting off of the sides of the structure, it really was a sight to behold in the early morning. "As long as we follow that, we should be good to go."

Sharon just scrunched down in her seat. "Man..."

"What, you think walking would be better? Not only is walking along railroad tracks dangerous enough, it would have taken us forever and a day just to make it across."

"Not forever; just a day if we walked fast enough, and kept our gaze straight ahead the entire time." Sharon made a face as a small wave rocked the boat slightly. If she were of a pale skin tone, her face would have most certainly turned a light shade of green. "But, whatever. You're right, this will save us time... and the faster I'm away from all of this water, the better."

Gina walked to the back of the boat and pulled the string to the motor a couple of times until the engine finally caught, sending loud peals of noise through the air. Going back to the steering wheel as the boat started pulling away from the dock, she steadied her course parallel to the bridge, and soon they were on their way through the light fog that was being burned away with the sun as it climbed higher into the sky. Noting that the way the motorboat was made would require one person cutting on or off the motor while the other steered, Gina hoped that Sharon would be over her phobia enough to help her out when it came time to disembark. She chanced a glance down at her and found that she was zoned out, probably in her own head and would remain there for the majority of the trip. While Gina was glad that Sharon was no longer actively freaking out about the ocean that now serenely stretched around them, she found herself wondering what she was thinking about. There wasn't much to focus on these days except planning where to go next and what they were going to do if and when they found who they were looking for. _If._

She refused to think of the alternative. Squinting a bit as a small spray of salt water rose over the hood of the boat and lightly coated her face, Gina looked back on all of the people that needed saving or finding... all of the ones she'd promised people she'd find. Did she really think that two almost-college graduates could be able to save a handful of Final Fantasy characters in a messed-up version of their own world? It was luck, last time they made it through. Young, foolish and too distracted by the new world and the friends they made, they had no real time to accurately gauge the situation they were in. At least that was what Gina was telling herself. Back then, she knew if she had asked herself the same question, it would have been a completely different answer. But having a bit more wisdom under her belt, she figured that in many ways, it was all just a game to them. A game with life-threatening consequences, yes, but it never deterred them. Gina tried to remember if all that kept them going was the need to go back home, or something else entirely. It all seemed so long ago, hidden in a haze. Yet, when she thought about the people that held a special place in her heart... those memories were the clearest.

"Dude! Is that land?" Sharon perked up suddenly, leaning forward in her seat.

Looking into the distance, Gina could definitely make out the edge of the shore where the Great Salt Lake began and stretched out for what seemed like miles in either direction. Smiling, Gina was glad that it took much less time than she anticipated. Even Sharon was excited enough about it that she got up from her seat and helped calm the motor so that they came to an even coasting halt to the shoreline.

"Oh, my god!" Sharon hopped off of the boat and fell to her knees melodramatically on the ground beneath her as Gina made sure the craft was anchored properly.

"What, are you gonna kiss the earth in worship, now?" Gina smirked, coming to stand next to her.

Sharon lifted an eyebrow and got to her feet sensibly, dusting off her jeans. "Uh, no. I'm glad to be on a non-moving surface for right now, but I'd get salt and dirt and whatever the hell else is on my mouth if I did something crazy like that." She looked back to the boat, floating innocently in the water. "You think it's going to be okay to just leave it there?"

"Well, what else are we gonna do? Drive it back?" Gina shrugged. "I highly doubt that anyone's going to come around to steal it out here. When we're done doing whatever it is we came here to do, we can make sure it gets back to the owner so that he and Yaten don't completely kill us for hijacking it unexpectedly."

Sharon nodded. "True. Well, in that case... let's get trekking." She walked forward a couple of steps before pausing and turning around. "Uh... which way was that secret entrance again?"

Gina frowned in thought. "Uh, just head straight-ish, or something like that. Maybe we'll come across something that will look familiar."

"Look familiar? Everything around us looks the damn same!" Sharon scratched her head. "But, maybe we'll get lucky or something. Maybe run into another big skeletor looking beast that will pause in the middle of trying to rape us and point us in the right direction."

"Ugh, I hope not. I don't think I can summon up another Holy spell or anything of that nature to destroy it like I did last time." She started walking in a general direction. "Last time I used magic it took a lot from me just to do the things that would normally have taken me but a minor thought to do. Is this was using magic feels like for someone not of sorceress decent?"

"Probably. It was hard for me to concentrate enough at times, so I rarely relied on it. Healing spells came in handy, though, when you didn't have a potion on hand or something like that, so I got pretty decent at those at least." The pink and purple haired girl carefully stepped her way around some stray rocks, being more observant of her foot placements than she was four years ago when they visited the barren land. "But, you know how I roll in Final Fantasy games; if I can't beat it to death with my heaviest hitting warriors, then I'd try like hell to do it anyway. Spells were never really my preferred battle tactic. Although Flare and Thundaga were pretty pimp light shows to watch when I just wanted to have fun."

Laughing, Gina recalled all of Sharon's tactics for just about any video game she played and eventually ended up mastering; level up to God status and beat the hell out of anything that moved. Gina, although she was more of a Final Fantasy veteran than her best friend, rarely had the patience to go to such lengths. She'd level up just enough to get her by, relying on impromptu strategies to get her through tough situations. Anything else took too long and annoyed her because she always wanted to see what would happen next in the storyline. "Yeah, I feel you on that. I liked Firaga, myself. But you know, as weird as it is to say this, in real life magic is a lot handier. I mean, think of the ungodly amount of abuse we took that time we were in Ultimecia's castle and our abilities were locked?"

"Oh GOD, don't remind me." Sharon groaned. "That whole damn thing pissed me off. In the game, it didn't seem THAT bad. But then again, I was just controlling a bunch of characters through a gothic-looking castle. Whenever I do go back to playing FF, I think I might try to be a little more empathic to my pixilated friends... while not entirely envying their position."

The girls lapsed into a comfortable silence then, moving through the stillness of the dried lake. It was a beautiful sight, if one got past how empty the scene was. Mountains of white formed haphazard craters throughout the land, catching the sun's rays in ways that made everything glitter like snow. At parts where the salt was heavily formed over many years, it faded into an aquamarine blue as it neared the ground. Every now and then, a breeze swept through the place, kicking up an uncomfortable amount of granules into their faces, but it wasn't too bad. All in all, neither of them could imagine traversing this distance alone, but as long as they had each other the terrain didn't look as intimidating and hopeless as they could imagine it looking to anyone else just hoping to get a glimpse of the magnificent technological city.

"This is SO ghey." Sharon said after a bit more walking. "It's getting hot, salt's in my hair, and I haven't seen or run into either a man-eating skeleton or a glitchy break in the scenery that so much as tell us where the fuck we are. Just how big IS this place, anyway?"

Gina trained her eyes to the sky momentarily, taking note how it was completely cloudless. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, it's not as large as it might seem; at some point, Esthar's shields would blend the city in with the lake, making it look like the lake continues on for many miles." She tilted her head back down to ground level and was going to say something else if a figure didn't suddenly appear in front of them. Sharon halted, almost tripping forward at the unexpectedness of the new visitor. Neither of them had sensed or heard anyone or anything else for the entire time they were walking, and had correctly assumed that no other sane human being would be out taking a stroll in the Great Salt Lake.

"State your purpose." The figure said simply, as if everything was normal.

Sharon and Gina exchanged a glance. They were both very unnerved. Were they really that involved in their conversation or in their heads the entire time not to notice someone else until they were right upon them? That didn't bode well for whatever skills they were supposed to have had acquired during their time at Balamb Garden. Studying the newcomer, Gina saw that he wore a uniform of complete white, almost unnaturally bright amongst the already bleached backdrop the Great Salt Lake offered. His eyes were of the clearest blue, matching the skyline perfectly, and his blonde hair framed his face slightly before tapering off at the back of his neck. He didn't look dangerous at all; very out of place and eerily serene and completely random, but nothing more than that. He obviously knew where they were headed, as there would be no other real reason two people would be wandering around on an almost desolate half of a continent.

"Um... we want to get into Esthar?" Sharon said meekly, her voice high-pitched due to the fact that she was a little bit scared of the impromptu intrusion.

"Admittance to Esthar is prohibited at this point in time. Please return from whence you came." The white-suited blonde answered them in the same voice as before.

Sharon just raised an eyebrow and looked to her best friend for help.

"We know that... however, we were hoping an exception could be made just this once." Gina began, clearing her throat. "You see, we're on a very important mission for Headmaster-"

"Admittance to Esthar is prohibited at this point in time. Please return from whence you came."

"So, now this ho sounds like a broken record." Sharon groaned. Something about that phrase set bells off in Gina's head, and she took a closer look at the person addressing them. Whenever a breeze stirred, not a strand of hair moved on his forehead. And stranger still, the sun was high in the sky yet he _had no shadow._

"Sharii-chan..." Gina whispered, keeping her focus on him. "I don't think he's real."

Sharon started to exclaim something in disbelief, but once she looked at him too she noticed the finer, out of place details. _Well. That explains why neither G-fuu nor me heard him walk up on us. And that would explain why he hasn't blinked once yet. I was afraid he was crazy, or something._

"Okay, look. We're not going to waste our time talking to a souped-up version of an automated telemarketer. We are GETTING into that city, and if you're not going to help us do it then get the hell out of our way."

"Failure to comply will result in violence."

In answer to that, Sharon stuck up her middle finger, a good throwback to her younger and slightly more belligerent years. "Failure to HEAR THE FUCK WHAT I JUST SAID results in this, bitch." She waved Gina over and began to stalk around the hologram, not really sure where exactly to head next but figuring they had to be pretty close if there was their very own electronic escort waiting to intercept them.

Then, there was a flash of light that temporarily blinded Gina before she got the chance to follow, and Sharon was lying on her back on the cracked salt floor, looking as if she'd been slapped.

"... what the FUCK WAS THAT FOR?!?!" She shrieked, enraged.

Once again, neither of them had seen him move, but he lowered an arm deliberately and looked at them both, his expression never changing. "This is your last warning. Please stand down."

Gina took one look down at Sharon, pursed her lips, and in a moment had drawn her bow and had loaded an arrow into it, aiming it straight between his eyes. "No." Was her simple, quiet, but very firm response. She wasn't going to take crap from a hologram when they were so close, especially one that harmed her best friend. When he didn't move or respond, she let the arrow fly towards its target.

Which disappeared seconds before what would have been impact. Gina blinked in shock but then widened her senses to a more broad scale, absentmindedly taking out another arrow to have it at the ready. Truth be told, she wasn't sure if it could be entirely possible for her to hit him, being what he was. But she wasn't too keen on appearing defenseless, either.

In another blink of the eye, he was suddenly in front of her. Before she got over herself enough to raise her bow, he reared back and blasted it out of her hands using the same technique he evidently used before on Sharon. A feeling akin to a massive static shock caused her to stagger backwards, shaking her hands to dispel the numbness that had engulfed them. But before he had the chance to follow up that attack with something deadlier, the side of Sharon's staff collided violently to the side of his face from behind with such force that would have normally resulted in a very healthy display of brain tissue out of one ear. Instead, he careened with the momentum realistically, but moments before he crashed to the ground he disappeared.

"Take THAT home to your momma." Sharon spat. "Are you okay, G-fuu?"

Nodding, Gina picked up her bow and the discarded arrow, eyes darting around cautiously. "I'm fine. But we should stay on our guard. Something tells me he'll be back."

"Yeah, no shit. God, hospitality has gone down the toilet with everything else in this world, I guess."

It didn't take too long. The blonde reappeared and with a quick backhand, disrupted the grip Sharon had on her staff enough to drop it, clattering to the ground. In another, almost too fast for human eyes motion, he snatched the wrist that wasn't lined with her trademark plastic bracelets and sent a current of electricity through it. The excruciating pain she felt as a result sent her eyes bulging and her mouth opening in a soundless scream. One of her favored professors back at GV, and also one of the co-founders of the China study abroad program she attended two summers ago always told the story about how he had miraculously survived a massive electric shock in a power plant in which he worked during the tumulus days of the Cultural Revolution. She doubted the currents pulsing through her body were anything like the thousands of volts Professor Ni experienced, but if it was any small indication of what COULD have been, her already deep respect and admiration for the philosophy teacher grew tremendously in that single moment.

"Sharii-chan!" Gina gasped and aimed her bow to shoot down the man. But to her surprise, a pair of arms encircled her from behind, binding her limbs so that she couldn't move. Quickly getting enough leeway to get her elbow free, she sent it fiercely back into what she hoped was her assailant's gut. It took a couple of tries, but eventually she got him to release her enough so that she could move more freely again. Grasping the arrow in one hand, she spun quickly without thinking too much on it and slammed the point forcibly into the eye of what was a perfect duplicate of the blonde guy attacking Sharon. Ordinarily, this sudden burst of brutality would have caused Gina to either throw up or faint dead on the spot (or both), but she was currently driven by the need to save her friend and get them both out of the situation alive. Not to mention it helped tremendously that the hologram, while solid enough to do major damage, lacked the bodily fluids normal human beings possessed. So, the entire motion wasn't messy, and he stood almost comically in that same spot with the arrow sticking out of his iris before fading, letting the arrow fall away in his wake. She caught it before it hit the ground, glad that it was still good before immediately reloading it in her bow and taking aim again, but evidently Sharon had somehow gotten the upper hand.

Somewhere during the course of being shocked all to hell, the pain went numb simply because he never increased the voltage enough to outright kill her. When she noticed this, her brain began to work away from the pain and along other lines; either he was the most wonderfully crafted sadist Esthar had ever slapped together, or he wasn't actually there to kill them. Pushing those ponderings aside for a moment to deal with the situation at hand, she remembered a Tai Chi move she thought would help turn the tables - if she executed it correctly. Moving the center of gravity to her waist, she threw her weight to the side, pulling the man forward unexpectedly while he was still holding onto her wrist. As he stumbled towards her, she placed her foot behind a joint in his leg, forcing him to his knees. From there, she grabbed a fistful of some amazingly textured golden locks and rammed his head into the hardened ground below with as much force as she dared to muster. She winced, preempting the sickening crack of bone against an equally hard surface, but nothing of that nature came. Instead, the image of the man wavered and then vanished as if it had never been there to begin with.

"Jesus CHRIST, this better not leave a permanent mark." Sharon examined her wrist that was still slightly numb, taking note of the dark circular mark that was evidence of the electrical torture. She supposed she should be glad, however, that the skin didn't peel off or anything of the like.

"This is bad. I don't like this." Gina panted, half from the adrenaline rush and half from the fact that it was getting very hot doing all that they were doing under the unrelenting sun. She wasn't much of a hot weather person as it was. "How are we supposed to-" She cut short abruptly.

"What? Oh, shi-" Sharon turned around in time to see that the man in the white suit had re-spawned right behind her. Before she figured out what to do next, there was a slight rush of air and a whistling noise of something cutting through still air at an alarming rate in her ear, and she froze immediately as the arrow slid harmlessly past her and embedded itself in his forehead, the impact sending him backwards to the ground.

Sharon let out a low whistle as he disappeared. She didn't even have to look at Gina to know that her best friend wasn't fucking around. Seeing something move out of the corner of her eye, she grabbed her almost forgotten staff and sent a one-handed quick swing to his midsection. As luck would have it, it sent the blonde careening into another duplicate that was apparently on his way to dealing more damage, effectively taking them both out. Sharon watched as Gina fired another arrow into what would be the heart of the man, and the shimmering effect that occurred as he dissipated.

"Why do I feel like I'm in the Matrix?" Sharon asked no one in particular.

"Might as well be." Gina replied grimly, readying her weapon once more. "We can't keep doing this. Everything we 'kill' one of them, two more pop up in his place. We'll have a small army on our hands if we're not careful."

Sharon snorted. "What the fuck ever. He wants to play Dynasty Warriors? Well, I'll show his ass Zhao Yun. For whatever reason, they aren't trying to kill us; just causing us various headaches while effectively deterring us from finding our way in."

Eight identical holograms came into existence at that moment in time, forming a complete circle around the girls. Gina and Sharon moved until they were back to back, eyeing their adversaries warily. Gina didn't know how well she could fire arrows while being so obviously outnumbered, and Sharon just clutched her staff with both hands, ready to move or do SOMETHING at any notice.

"So... think we can pull off a double musou?"

Gina actually cracked a smile at that. It was amazing that even at times such as the one they were currently facing, Sharon could make her grin. And well, why not? Here was her chance to go down fighting. Despite the fatalistic turn her mind was approaching, she knew anything had to be better than giving up entirely. Somehow, completely acknowledging that fact with herself made her feel strangely lightheaded and giddy. She compared this newfound emotion to how she would have reacted four years ago in the same situation; she most likely would have gone cold and completely annihilated everything around her in some random yet flashy display of magical power. Laying the past and the present side by side made Gina realize that for whatever reason, she preferred the way she was now. Sure, it might have been a tactical loss to be as virtually powerless as she was, but standing next to her best friend, she almost didn't have a care in the world.

Seeing one of the clones advance, she drew back her arrow.

And suddenly they all disappeared. Blinking and feeling slightly shafted at the anti-climatic and abrupt ending to what had the possibility to be an epic battle of some sorts, both girls stayed alert for a few moments longer, expecting a mass counter-attack from all sides. When none came after awhile, they relaxed their over-tensed muscles and tried to figure out what it all meant. If it wasn't strange enough for them to get attacked out of nowhere, they didn't know exactly how to take NOT having to be on guard for something or another.

After a few more moment passed, their questions were somewhat answered.

Out of what appeared to be thin air, a rectangular doorway appeared, creating a black square amongst the white barren land that continued beyond and around it. From there, five figures emerged, all thankfully looking different from the person next to them, yet all wearing the same white uniform as the hologram. They lined up in pairs on either side of the opening they just came from, with the fifth figure opting to stand outlined in the doorway.

"Oh geez, don't tell me we're going to have to fight these bitches, too." Sharon moaned. "Not only are they actual people, my adrenaline rush has passed, now." Gina agreed; the realization that she was very tired, and that a small yet significant callous was forming on the sides of her fingertips where she had been gripping her arrow taut in her bowstring for so long replaced whatever she felt before. _That'll leave a blister in the morning._

The person that was in the doorway walked forward, leaving her companions behind. As the heat sent vague mirage waves shimmering up from the reflective surface of the ground, momentarily her figure seemed as unreal as the apparitions they had just faced. Her boots, just as white as her outfit, clicked softly as she made her way towards the pair that was trying to muster up enough reserve strength to defend themselves if need be. She came to a halt about a foot from them and appeared to size them up. She had very long white hair that hung perfectly straight from its ponytail from the back of her head to almost her waist. Her bangs were side swept and tucked behind one ear, which drew attention to her petite face. However, her most distinguishing feature were her eyes; one was a warm chocolate brown while the other was a rich and vibrant red, much like the color of the ripest cherries.

"Not bad." The woman finally spoke, her voice not too deep yet not too high, and rolled over them pleasantly. "However, you two were the last people I expected to find at the end of this rope."

While Sharon had a moment of dumbfounded confusion, Gina sucked in a breath. Since she saw the woman approach, something had been nagging at the back of her head, almost like an itch she couldn't quiet scratch. She knew that woman from somewhere, and it didn't quite register until just at that moment. "Hey, you're..."

An amused smirk played on her lips, and she raised one hand and covered the brown eye with her palm. "AFFIRMATIVE."


	17. Chapter 16

**A/N:** I think I like writing chapters by hand, now. I might waste a lot of ink and a lot of trees in the process, but it makes me feel more productive, oddly. And, I'm actually more prompt in getting chapters out this way. But anyway... a real reason for an author's note besides the fact that I am compulsively addicted to putting them at the beginnings of chapters; "zenmeban" is a Chinese phrase that literally means "What can be done?", but in more crude and understandable terms it is the Chinese way of saying, "Eh. Shit happens."

* * *

A transport coasted through the streets of the city of Esthar. The landscape was very much the same as it had been all those years ago with towers and pathways made out of an iridescent light blue that lived together in a technological harmony that seemed all at once intimidating and beautiful to the human eye. The sidewalks were crowded with Estharians, all trying to get where they needed to go but not exuding the self-absorbed opportunist attitudes that sometimes made mega-cities like New York or Shanghai seem unsavory. Their fashions were unique, just as the place they lived in, and the people themselves varied as well.

Sharon pulled herself away from the window and forced herself to face forward and sit still in her seat. She and Gina were sitting side by side in the vehicle against one end, facing Fujin who was seated with her legs crossed on the other. The entire ride thus far had been uneventful and quiet; Fujin wasn't much of a conversationalist. Glancing over to her best friend, she found her very fascinated by the faint specks of dirt underneath her fingernails. They didn't know exactly where they were going; they figured if it got them into Esthar then it wouldn't matter. Studying the fair woman in front of her, Sharon's curiosity overrode her awkwardness of the whole situation.

"So... um, what happened to your eye?" She asked, wishing it hadn't come out as blunt and unintelligent as she thought it did.

Fujin looked at her for a couple of seconds before replying. "I had it replaced."

"... organically?"

"Yes."

"Oh... okay." Sharon twiddled her thumbs for a moment. "Okay, I just have to apologize for my behavior back then. It was pretty bitchy of me to hate on you so much for no real reason. I was pretty young and stupid, and I hope-"

"Don't worry about it. It's in the past, and some of us don't want to revisit it." Fujin cut her off. Sharon decided to stop trying to initiate a conversation, seeing as though it would more than likely turn out to be an 'open mouth, insert foot' game the way she was going about it.

Gina looked apologetically at her friend before trying her own hand. "We aren't in too much trouble, are we?"

Fujin held back a smile. "No. However, luck had a lot to do with that. If I hadn't been the one to find you two, then circumstances might have been a tad different."

"Oh. Well... that's good, I suppose. What was it that we were fighting out there?"

"Esthar's security system in holographic form. Strong electric pulses make the image solid enough to be more than just a passive entity if the need arises."

"Psht, you're telling me." Sharon eyeballed her wrist again. "Do people really get that desperate to get their way into Esthar?"

"You'd be surprised." Fujin uncrossed, then crossed her legs in the opposite fashion. "People get desperate for a utopia, and to them, Esthar is what they are looking for. In the event that an intruder presents a problem such as what you two did, we dispatch to handle the situation accordingly."

Gina tilted her head to the side. "So, are you guys sort of like Esthar's personal bodyguards?"

Fujin actually let herself smile this time. "Yes." Something about her response told Gina that there was more to it, but she wasn't saying much else. As if in answer to her unspoken suspicions, she said, "I will introduce you to someone who will be able to answer all of your questions." Nodding, Gina saw that the transport had gotten off of the main streets and was pulling into an underground parking structure.

When the vehicle came to a stop, Fujin led the girls out and to an elevator to the far right of the complex. Once inside, she pressed a few buttons, and soon they were off rising above ground level to a magnificent view of the city and part of the place they were now in. It looked like a rendition of Crystal Tokyo from the anime Sailor Moon, with tall gleaming spires piercing the skyline in an almost haphazard fashion. Gina really was wondering what it was all about. They obviously weren't in or near the Presidential Palace, since as breathtaking as the establishment was, it was nothing compared to the obvious grandeur the Palace held. When the elevator doors opened, she stopped admiring the view out of the glass windows the elevator offered and took in things from the inside. Many people were either milling around or walking to another destination, all of them in the white uniforms that were pretty familiar to both Gina and Sharon by now. Fujin wordlessly navigated them through different corridors, and neither of them decided trying to ask what everything was all about. As far as Gina was concerned, they weren't in jail, and that was a good thing. Sharon just didn't know what to think of it all besides the fact that the whole place reminded her of a medical facility with the whole white theme they were going for, and that made her slightly twitchy. She didn't care much for doctors.

Coming to a door in the middle of a quieter hallway, Fujin opened it and entered, holding the door open long enough for Gina and Sharon to enter. The room she led them to was of medium size and was obviously a waiting room of sorts. A couple of chairs and a small sofa filled the room, surrounding a glass table that was pretty much spotless. The view from the window was beautiful; the Palace could be seen in the distance, with various modes of transportation constantly moving like ants along the streets and pathways below. Sharon found herself remembering a certain time in a bookstore where she viewed the city in such a manner, and she smiled despite herself.

"Please wait here. I shall return shortly." Fujin told them, and left the room, the door swinging silently shut.

Waiting a moment or two after they were left alone, Sharon cleared her throat. "So... I hope it's not just me that's totally weirded out by Fujin's sudden transformation into a human being."

"Sharii-chan!" Gina scolded. "But... I get what you're saying. I kind of missed how she barked out everything before. I kinda want to get to know her better so I can figure out her past. Something about her is just really intriguing."

Sharon raised an eyebrow and turned back to the window in front of her. "Well, that's all you. I think the most she and I will ever get to at this point is neutrality. But hey, _zenmeban_? Can't be friends with everyone you come across, huh?"

"No, I guess not. But still, I just think it would take time to get to know her, regardless." Gina took a cursory glance around the room. "But really, I wonder why we're here? It's good that we stumbled upon a way to actually get into the city, but I have no idea what to make of it. I don't remember there being any place like this in Esthar four years ago."

"Probably because it wasn't here back then. The only thing remotely similar to whatever the hell this is, was the Galbadian Army, and they don't even really count since I would bet that they never really cared about the city enough to do anything like this. They only cared about that bigass floating Jenga block Lunatic Pandora and Tear's point, thanks to the control the sorceress had over the army back then."

"That's true." Gina settled down on the comfortable sofa. "But, if what Fujin said is true, then we should be presented with the opportunity to have our questions answered."

And indeed they did. The white-haired woman returned at that moment, holding open the door in the same fashion she did before. A tall figure walked briskly in, muttering to himself and overall looking rather annoyed.

"This had BETTER be good, Fujin." He growled. "I have a meeting in half an hour I haven't even prepared for, and you drag me out of my office to see to something you could have just-" He cut himself off abruptly, actually taking a look at the inhabitants of the room. "... what in the blue hell..."

Sharon's mouth dropped open. At this point, she really should have been used to unlikely situations and the people behind them, but her brain obviously wasn't allowing her to evolve. "Well, I'll be damned. It's the young revolutionary!"

Seifer Almasy narrowed his jade eyes at her before turning back to his long term friend.

"Told you." She smirked before he could say anything.

"Tell them I'll be late for that meeting. Late meaning, 'don't be surprised if he doesn't show'. I'll deal with their bitchings, later." Fujin nodded briskly before exiting, leaving the three of them in the room alone.

Gina honestly didn't know what to say or do, now. She couldn't say the sight of Seifer made her want to turn tail and run under the covers holding a stuffed animal for comfort, but she was still rather uncomfortable. The last time any of them encountered the blonde, he was shoving Gina face-first into the most evil and powerful sorceress their time had ever known. Gina knew better than to judge him now on what he had done in the past, since four years was more than enough time for one to do some soul-searching. On the surface, he didn't look much different; his golden hair was still in the familiar close-cropped fashion, and he donned the trademark blue and white vest. The rest of his ensemble was much like the white uniforms everyone else in the place wore, except his jacket greatly resembled the tan trench coat he used to always wear.

"Let's cut to the chase. What do you want?" Seifer asked bluntly.

"Well, I could come up with quite a list for ya, but I doubt you'd be able to fulfill it." Sharon said airily, taking a seat next to Gina on the couch. "Don't you want to know how we infiltrated your world inexplicably after all of this time?"

"Not really." He replied. "I'm more interested in why you're in my Garden."

Gina did a double-take. "What? This is a GARDEN?"

"YOUR Garden on top of that?" Sharon added in the same state of shock.

Seifer turned an amused gaze on both of them. "Yes, you heard me right. Welcome to the base of the new White SeeDs. You're talking to the Headmaster."

Gina's mouth just opened and closed like a fish for a few more moments. _White SeeDs? But I thought... I wonder if Headmaster Cid knows about this, but something is telling me he doesn't._ "Oh. Well. Wow. Congratulations." Was all she could muster up to say.

"Man, this world is crazier than I thought. Every time we go someplace new, something else bites us in the ass like a snake." Sharon scratched her head. "Well, you may not be interested in what we've been doing these past four years, but I'm interested in how you pulled all of this off. Care to enlighten?"

The tall blonde raised an eyebrow before sitting down in one of the armchairs. "Well, why the hell not? You guys deserve something for getting your asses kicked trying to get in here so bad."

"Hey! We held our ground!" Sharon retorted.

Seifer snorted but didn't say anything to counter her claim, his way of conceding. "After you guys did your thing and saved the world or whatever, I settled down in FH with Fujin and Raijin. We figured it was the only place we could go without being persecuted for being an integral part of a plot to take over the world." He said all of this very casually, as if he was relaying the mundane activities of an everyday livelihood rather than the events that changed the lives of many. "But some time passed, and FH became this sort of-"

"Yeah, we know about that first hand." Sharon interjected. "We stopped off there before coming here, and were thrown for quite a loop. I never thought I'd see something like that."

"Neither did the rest of the inhabitants of FH. When we left, all the stuff they had planned wasn't totally put into motion yet, so I'm not sure exactly how bad it got. I don't typically go out and visit. But we didn't think it would be entirely safe to stick around while loads of people dropped by; someone might recognize us, and who knows what would have happened as a result. Getting out was rather easy, since there was all this hub-bub between the folks who were okay with FH selling out and the others who didn't want to see their home go down the shitter."

"So, you didn't stay to help out?" Gina pondered out loud, almost not realizing it.

Seifer gave her a strange look. "Help out? Maybe you're not getting the point of what we were trying to do. Us? Fugitives. Public demonstrations wouldn't be the smartest thing to take a part in. Before you start judging me, let me say for the record that if things had turned out differently, maybe I would have stood up for the future of FH. But all I wanted was a place to lie low; sometimes standing up and fighting isn't always the best way to go about things."

Gina nodded, smiling on the inside. _Looks like he's actually figured some stuff out, after all._

"... so, Raijin wanted to try going back to Balamb Garden. I told him he was nuts; it had only been a year, and I didn't want to put up with the crap I knew I'd get if I stepped foot back on that soil again. I told him that if he and Fujin wanted to return, then they could go ahead and do that, but I wasn't going to touch that with a 10-foot pole. But they really didn't want to break up 'the Posse', not after all the crap that happened." For a moment, his eyes actually softened, and one who knew Seifer and was very attentive could have caught it. "So, Fujin actually suggested Esthar. I thought she was crazy, too - I thought our whole point was to stay unseen. But she figured we could get in unnoticed with all of the people trying to get in and all, and that once we were inside nobody would give us much of a thought. So... we headed there, but..."

Sharon flinched. "Let me guess; ya'll got caught in all of the background checks they had just recently employed to try and curb all of the tourism that Esthar had gotten once Ultimecia had finally been defeated?"

Seifer nodded, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah. I was pissed. All that work we had done to try and stay low seemed to all go to hell once they figured out who we were and had us detained. I figured it was a fitting end, a testament to every single other time I tried to 'do good'." His voice took a bitter tone with that sentence, but he continued. "So there we were, sitting in jail awaiting whatever sentencing we deserved and we get a special visitor. The President of Esthar himself came down to visit little old me. I would like to say I was humbled, but it takes more than the appearance of a figurehead to earn my respect." He paused in thought for a moment. "Hey... is Puberty Boy related to him or something?"

Sharon burst out laughing. "Something like that. Laguna's his father."

"Makes sense. Both of them have the same queer thing about them. But anyway, he let us out. He said he knew what it was like to be chained by past mistakes, and wanted to give us the chance to start over, away from all of what happened. Esthar's people may be plentiful, but they are always surprisingly neutral... as long as you aren't a sorceress, that is. They don't even blame the Galbadian Army for all the shit they pulled like the rest of the world on that bandwagon; they figure there are two very distinct ways of looking at everything. There is Esthar, and then there is everyone else. Really isolationist view, but it worked to our advantage."

Gina scratched her head. "So, how'd you end up doing all of this?"

The young headmaster sighed. "Well... I opened my big mouth. I couldn't believe he was just going to let us go like that, right when we should have been shipped out to the capital for a trial. 'Nobody does something for nothing.' So, President Laguna said that if it would make me feel any better, there was something he had in mind for me to do. Seems there were a lot of kids that heard about the great deeds SeeD have done, especially after the Lunar Cry and everything like that, and wanted to become one. But a lot of their folks wouldn't let them outside the city walls for an opportunity to go train. And well, we three knew what it was like in a Garden, even if we weren't full SeeDs, so evidently we were the perfect candidates for the job."

"Wow. Now THAT'S a major success story for the record books." Sharon said approvingly. "You had the leadership skills in order to bring everything together. Looks like you managed to be a revolutionary, anyway."

This earned her a roll of the eyes and a sneer. "Whatever." After that very Squall-like response, he cleared his throat. "Things didn't get interesting until Esthar closed its gates permanently to the public. Up until that happened, all we really had to worry about was training a bunch of teens to do some basic stuff, and what was left of the old White SeeDs helped out with what they knew too, seeing as though they had followed Ellone to Esthar when she decided to reside here permanently. When we first started hearing stories of the SeeD wars, we thought it was ridiculous. But there were some SeeDs from the other Gardens that showed up, much like you two did, actually. They wanted nothing to do with all of the mess that had been happening. So, we took them in, gave them a new purpose. They became role models for all of the newbies, and made our Garden more versatile. Eventually, we had to have this place erected so we could house all of them."

"Wow. That's pretty sad that the only people that could be some kind of force to stop whatever's going on outside are all holed up in here." Sharon said, biting her lip and turning her gaze to the window.

"If you ask me, it's nothing that can really be stopped." Seifer stated. "The time of SeeD, the one Cid and Edea created, is over, plain and simple. There are no more sorceresses trying to take over the world; you guys made sure of that four years ago. All of what's happening now is just a result of that foresight."

Gina frowned. "Well, foresight or not, you see this happening and you don't do anything about it? Seifer, they NEED level-headed people out there, ones that remember what SeeD stood for before things got crazy."

"So, you'd have me take a bunch of rookies and the very people who wanted out of that fucked up situation right on in a world stuck in an endless downfall?" He stood up then, the ends of his coat unraveling. "I don't think so. I have a duty, one that I take very seriously, and that is to protect all of these folks I'm in charge of. While you may think showing up after so long and proclaiming that things still can be salvaged is enough to miraculously sway the world into thinking 'oh yeah, that's right, we ARE fucked up', I hate to burst your bubble. Rather than go out and get tied up in all of that mess, I'm waiting out this storm so that when it's over, those that are left can feel free to go back out and rebuild. There will be no stupid factions or a whole bunch of kids who think they're the shit running around in uniform and causing trouble. And you know, it's not just the SeeDs that are the problem; it's the Headmasters for not disbanding when they obviously needed to. They are just as much to blame."

Sharon and Gina exchanged glances. As much as they hated to admit it, Seifer had a point. Many good points, in fact. While they were riding their idealistic hopes on finding some sort of hypothetical button that would miraculously appear when they needed it, Seifer was taking the much more realistic approach. Hearing him lay it all out for them like that made them really look at how hopeless their entire journey was. It left both of them with a loss they had been putting off ever since learning about the situation in both Sharon's dorm from Xu and later from Headmaster Cid himself.

"But... we still have something worth fighting for." Gina spoke up then, the familiar look of determination in her eyes as she looked up to Seifer.

Sharon looked over to her best friend and nodded. "Yeah... we may not be able to save the world, but we can save a few people that still need it."

Seifer switched his gaze between both of them warily. "Really? This sounds interesting."

"Well, it has a lot to do with why we're here, actually. Which is what you wanted to know in the first place, right?" Sharon stood up herself. "Even though it seems like you have all the answers that elude the rest of us on why the world is going to hell, Headmaster Cid sent Squall, Selphie, and Zell out to try and find why SeeDs are going nuts all over."

Something in Seifer's gaze flickered, but he hid it almost as soon as it surfaced. "Oh? And what'd they find out?"

"Nothing." Gina stated. "They never returned from their mission."

There was a moment of silence before he spoke again. "And let me guess; Cid dragged you two somehow out of whatever hole you guys were in to try and save them and the world in the process."

"Yeah, if you count that 'hole' being our uneventful lives back at GVSU, then that's basically it." Sharon clarified.

Both of them jumped as Seifer let out a string of explicatives that seriously reminded Gina of her father when he was having a bad day. They uncertainly watched as he paced the room, muttering to himself. Evidently, time didn't do much for Seifer and his temper. In some ways, this comforted them to know that not everything was so different about the place they had impromptu lived for in the span of many months.

Finally stopping his pacing, he turned to face them once more. "This is the EXACT reason why I will never return to Balamb Garden, and why Cid will never get my full respect. The man is an idiot." Before Gina or Sharon could say a word to counter this claim, he continued. "You're blinded by your obvious respect and admiration of your beloved Headmaster so that you refuse to see what's right there on your plate: he's using you. Roped you in with some impressive sob story that he knows how to pull out of his ass to get you to do what he wants with no resistance. With Puberty Boy and the rest of his squabble, there was always a sense of obligation there since his wife ran the orphanage and all. I was the only one not falling for that craptastic bullshit, so it's no wonder I never made SeeD."

_You never made SeeD because you never listened._ Gina thought to herself, not foolhardy enough to say that out loud.

"Cid deserves some props, I'll give him that." Seifer said, his words having a bite to them due to his anger. "He single-handedly formed an academy that rivals that of the Galbadian Army in its prime. But for all of his accomplishments, he's overrated. Just look at all of the mistakes he's made. First one was enlisting a whole bunch of people to fight and train for a cause they didn't know shit about until it threatened to engulf us all. I don't know what you would call that back in your world, but here we call that 'manipulation via consciously withheld information'. I'm surprised more people didn't realize they were roped into a war they never knew they signed up for. Second, putting Squall in charge of it all was a flashing sign to his lack of balls to deal with the fact that his wife could die because Ultimecia heavily influenced her. Can't take the heat? Then leave all of the responsibility to a loyal and talented lackey. Squall took the bait of course, just like a good puppet. And just when I thought Cid couldn't POSSIBLY fuck up anymore, you roll up in here and tell me he opted to endanger the lives of people he already used once to solve a problem that could be easily fixed if he just LET HIS PRIDE GO and disband SeeD like he should have done the moment Ultimecia was defeated. Oh, and evidently that's not enough, because when they disappear he goes as far as to pull in outsiders that have earned their right to a calm, uneventful life they were born for to try and fix what he irrevocably screwed up?" He let out a bitter laugh that came off as more like a bark. "The man is incredible."

"You can't blame Cid for everything, Seifer." Gina began slowly. "He did the best he could in the only way he knew how. The world needed help, and even though he himself wasn't strong enough to do it, he figured-"

"Figured what?" The blonde cut her off. "That the world supposedly cried out for a savior? If anything, that frame of mind gets everyone in trouble. The world. Doesn't. Fucking. Need. A savior. What it NEEDS is for everyone to grow some balls and solve their own problems instead of always waiting around for someone else to do it for them. We pray to Hyne to save us, and we get sorceresses hell-bent on destruction for our troubles. We put all our hopes on a bunch of teens who don't know what the hell they're doing to solve THAT new problem. Now, everyone's suffering because we don't know how to function without someone holding our hands. If there's any time to take our heads out of our asses and start figuring out some stuff, then now's a good time as any. I don't believe in sacrificing one or a handful of people to do what we should be doing ourselves."

At that moment, the door to the waiting room opened, and everyone's attention turned away from the conversation to address the newcomer. He walked in and looked around, his burly and well-muscled form still visible under his white uniform. His tanned skin and dark hair made a stark contrast to his outfit and his surroundings, but was immediately recognizable as the only member of the Posse that had yet to make an appearance.

"Seifer! There you are! People have been waiting on you, ya know?" Raijin blinked at the two girls. "Hey... anyone ever tell you that you two look like Regina and Sharon?"

The headmaster resisted the urge to face palm. "That's because they ARE, genius. Anyway, it's good that you're here. Do me a favor and take them to see the President, under my orders if anyone asks."

"Wait! What for?" Sharon blurted out, not really knowing what to think about the fact that everything was interrupted.

Seifer turned to look at her. "Well, someone has to tell Laguna that his son is missing, and it's better you than me. Have fun." With that, he exited the room.


	18. Chapter 17

**A/N: **It's ALIVE! Or something.

Anyway... yes, it's been awhile since my last update. Way overdue. I do apologize. But... crap happened IRL, all of it I cannot discuss conversationally over the internet, but I guess all you guys need to know is that I'm currently residing now in Shanghai, China. I'll be here for 4 years. PLENTY OF TIME TO LEARN CHINESE, AMIRITE? That's good, since I'm on my way to getting my M.A. in Chinese Language. I also received a pretty laptop. So... I shall use it to type chapters in between studying for my classes and trying to survive in China. It's taking me awhile to regain the train of thought I was on when writing this story, so bare with a bit!

Special thanks to Maasake, who, for some odd reason, hasn't given up on my sadass yet and sent me an E-mail recently seeing if I still existed. XD; I appreciate it, and to all those who might still have this story on Alert and will shit bricks when it says I've updated.

I'm also updating an old-as-dirt SM fanfiction I wrote back in the day at the same time... so... uh... we'll see how this goes. I'm choking my errant muse for all it's worth right now.

* * *

_Is that how it is? Truly?_

In stark contrast to Fujin, Raijin was talking a mile a minute, asking all sorts of questions about the whereabouts of the two girls after all of that time. Sharon felt bad for not being able to get to know him better back then, and took it upon herself to keep up conversation as the transport made its way through the streets to the Presidential Palace. Gina was happy that the attention was drawn away from her for that moment, since she wasn't particularly in a chatty mood. Her mind was still going over the conversation that she and Sharon had just left, and just what she was supposed to say when she came face to face with the President of Esthar, and more importantly, Squall's father.

_I don't want to be the one to tell him, if he somehow doesn't know already, that Squall's missing with little to no chance of getting him back. He's going to be shocked enough as it is to see us again, as is everyone else we've run into thus far that knew us back when we were just cadets on a seemingly impossible and convoluted mission. Now, this mission is even more impossible than before, and we're discovering so much... yet not enough to hopefully do what we've come this far to do._

Gina moved her gaze from her fingernails to the window that gave her a magnificent view of the city, but her mind was far away. Seifer's words had shaken her quite a bit. As irrational and headstrong as she knew the boy to be, now he was most certainly a man; a man with many of the same traits that he had before, but one that was now capable of running his own Garden, evidently. And as much as she had wanted to debate with him on the fate of SeeD and most especially the reputation of Cid, the scary part about it all was that it made too much sense. Nothing could make her lose respect for her Headmaster; he had done too much for all of them for that, and she really did have a choice to turn around and walk away from it all this time about.

But she would not have turned away. She and Sharon knew for a fact that the reason they came back was to save their friends. Hell, they probably would have done it sooner if they had any inkling and a way to get back to the Final Fantasy world. Gina sighed and laid her forehead against the cool glass and attempted to put herself in Headmaster Cid's shoes. She could barely fathom being put in the same position, being forced to make decisions that could affect many people in hundreds of ways, with not all of them being good. Ironically, she found herself cracking a smile. One of Squall's old reasonings, both in the game and in real life, was that he just did what he was told to do. He was right; it was a lot easier, since it involved no decision making, it just involved having a one-track mind to do whatever task was given to him. Would he have made the same decisions as Cid did, in formulating SeeD and hiding its true purpose, putting a dependable but relatively green rookie in charge of an entire Garden, picking out prepared yet unsuspecting people to do different kinds of missions? _Agh, all of this is making my head hurt. There's no use driving myself crazy with all of these "what ifs". I just know that there is more than one way of solving a situation, and that the past can't be changed. The only thing we can do now is live with our decisions and move on from them as best as we can._

Sharon shot her best friend a couple of concerned looks while maintaining easy conversation with Raijin. She knew that her best friend was turning over everything that they had discovered thus far in her mind, and was hoping she wasn't going to shut down on her as a result. _Don't get me wrong, Seifer's words fucked me up a little bit too. But I know that's just his way of seeing things. And we can't worry about much except the task we have at hand right now... meaning what the hell we're gonna tell Laguna in a couple of minutes._

The transport turned into a circular driveway with an ornate fountain as the center point and glided to a stop in front of the door, signaling the occupants of the vehicle that their destination had been reached. A man in traditional Estharian uniform met them at the door, and upon seeing Raijin was more than welcome to help escort them to the President's office. Both Sharon and Gina wished they could have been in the same amount of awe and almost giddy joy they experienced back when they were at that same magnificent building years ago... but the situation was very different this time around.

_Just... try to calm down. Nothing was ever solved by panicking or over thinking, despite the human capacity of dealing with situations that way._

As can be expected, Gina and Sharon followed behind Raijin like they were headed to jail.

"Uh, are you guys alright? You look pretty down, ya know? Aren't ya excited to see the President again after so long?" Raijin picked up on their somber moods, and turned his head to look over a broad shoulder at the two girls trailing behind him.

"Well, we would if this was an ordinary circumstance. Instead, we get to be the lucky bitches that tell Laguna that his son's missing and HAS been missing for a couple of months at least by now, with the chances of finding him slim to none." Sharon explained, a bit of a sarcastic clip in her voice that cued off her nervousness at the whole situation.

"Huh? So that's why Seifer sent you in here? That kinda sucks... but who's..." His tanned face lit up in sudden recognition, and he stopped dead in his tracks, almost causing the girls to pummel into his muscular back. "SQUALL? Man, I always KNEW something was up, ya know? I mean, they kinda look alike, even if they don't have similar personalities and all, ya know?"

Gina let out a sigh. She tried to keep her exasperation on lock, since it wasn't like this information was supposed to be common knowledge amongst anyone even though she knew the truth before Squall himself did. "Yes, we know. It'd just be a much happier reunion if things were different around here. Things aren't so great all around."

Falling into a contemplative silence, Raijin resumed his pace to the large doors that would lead to the circular office, which were now within sight at the end of the long hallway. He put one hand on the doorknob, but before he proceeded he turned back to Sharon and Gina. "I'm sorry. Ya know, it might seem like there's not much love lost between Seifer and Squall, but... well, I guess I'm just trying to say that we too wish things came around different. Being cut off from the Garden that we were pretty much raised on sucks, and even though he doesn't say it or covers it up with being stubborn and angry, it weighs on Seifer too, ya know? I just hope that Squall turns up soon, though. It'd be one less thing to worry about around here." With that, he pushed open the door, and Sharon and Gina stepped in, half holding their breaths.

The office was the same as they'd remembered it. The very large picture window that took up an entire wall of the office gave the perfect view of Esthar from above, the sun glinting majestically off of the iridescent rooftops and random spires of thousands of buildings. The rest of the walls of the office were pretty much bare, but it didn't give the place an abandoned look; the walls were textured uniquely and helped perpetuate the futuristic Feng Shui the room upheld. While they took a moment to examine their surroundings, a feeling of slight nostalgia washing over them, Gina and Sharon noticed that their entrance had not yet been noticed, because the room's occupants were busy focusing on someone who was underneath the large desk near the back of the room.

"I told you before; it's probably not in here. There's not many places to lose things in here... well, except your mind." A dark skinned, slim yet delicately toned male by the name of Kiros Seagill folded his arms and looked down with a raised eyebrow.

"But it's not anywhere else!" A voice came from underneath the desk, a hint of a whine lacing the statement. "Pens don't just vanish into thin air! Yeah, I mean, there was that one time where my favorite shirt kinda did, but it turned up eventually in the same place where I THOUGHT it was... you know how it goes! Why not just help me find it?"

"Maybe because we did, and it's NOT IN HERE. You probably carried it with you out of here for some reason, and put it down. It could be anywhere by now."

A groan. "You sure know how to crush a man's dreams, don't you?"

Kiros rolled his eyes. "It's a pen, Laguna. You have about 14 others you can use, so it's not like it's a loss."

"But it was my favorite one!"  
"All of your pens look the same."

"... but that one was my favorite!"

"I bet you couldn't tell the difference between the pen you lost and the rest of them on your desk."

"Of course I can, otherwise I wouldn't be on the floor trying to LOOK for it! Trust me, I know!"

A sigh erupted from the other side of the desk, and a large man shook his head and happened to look up to the newcomers to the office. His blue eyes widened considerably as he stared, and Kiros noticed this and turned around to see who had entered.

"... Laguna... you have visitors."

"DO THEY HAVE MY PEN??" He exclaimed, and hurriedly backed out from under his desk. Unfortunately, the top of his head connected with the underside of the hard surface, making a loud thump resound through the room and a muffled yelp. He finished his backtrack slower, even though he managed to bump into the chair that wasn't fully pulled away from the desk in the process. Sharon couldn't help but bite her lip and try not to burst out laughing as the President of Esthar finally stood up, rubbing his head and looking slightly ruffled.

"Eh, sorry, caught me in a bit of a..." Gradually, Laguna Loire stopped massaging the sore spot on his scalp and simply gazed at who was standing in his office. Blinking for a moment, he turned his clear blue eyes to Raijin. "This... seriously isn't who I think it is?"

Raijin nodded with a half-smile. "Kinda had the same reaction until Seifer confirmed it, ya know?"

Sharon and Gina exchanged glances and gave nervous grins and a slight wave.

Silence filled the gap for what seemed like a multitude of minutes.

"HOLY CRAP!!" Laguna finally exclaimed, causing everyone in the room to jump at least a foot in the air. He scooted around the side of the desk, and in just a couple of long strides, approached and engulfed both the girls in a hug so tight that it threatened to cut off their circulation. "SERIOUSLY? Gina? Sharon? I... don't even know where to start!"

Kiros cleared his throat. "Maybe you should start by allowing them room to breathe."

Sheepishly, Laguna relinquished his hold and backed up a couple of paces, but still let loose his trademark grin. "Did the faeries come back or something? I kinda feel light-headed..."

Ward gave Laguna a look, which Kiros translated. "Ward says that there were never any faeries to begin with." He turned his gaze on the two as Raijin slipped near unnoticed out of the office. "But this is certainly an unexpected phenomenon."

"Tell me about it." Sharon muttered to herself, looking down at her shoes.

The president looked back and forth between them, an expectant look in his eyes. "So, how'd you guys figure out how to get back here? I mean, to this world? Don't be surprised that I know the truth about you two; Squall spilled the beans awhile ago. I must admit, it was hard to believe at first, but Squall doesn't seem the type to kid or lie about something... well, at least not looking all serious like that. And you guys reappearing after so long... what's it been, four years now? Man, it's hard to believe that much time went by... but I guess it's easy to lose track of the days being in this city. Esthar always has the feeling of being timeless, in a sense. But... WOW, you guys are back! Did you let Squall and the others know yet?"

At the mention of Squall, both Gina and Sharon winced.

"Yeah, uh... about that..." Sharon started, swallowing hard, her eyes darting every which way.

Laguna looked back and forth between the girls, his smile becoming confused. "About... what?"

_Shit. The moment of truth. _"Well, as much as we are happy to see you again... we just wish it was under better circumstances." Gina began slowly, the feeling of dread building up in the pit of her stomach.

The smile was still faintly traceable on his face, but the rest of his features slowly melted away from the previous confusion into studious alert and increasing worry. "What do you mean? Did something happen?"

"Well... ah... fuck..." Sharon picked lightly at a fingernail. "It's kinda a long story but... um... okay. I'm 99.9% sure that you've never been told that Dr. Odine was making a machine to reduplicate the effects of the portal that was able to link our two worlds together. And just in the case the 0.1% has happened, I'm 100% sure that you weren't told that he actually succeeded. Which ironically indirectly corresponds as to why we're standing here today."

"Headmaster Cid had him construct the machine in the basement of Balamb Garden, where it would go pretty much undetected from those who would probably seek to fuck with the fabric between the worlds in ways it wasn't really ever meant to be disturbed." Gina continued, folding her hands behind her back and making herself lift her head from the floor. "He didn't expect it to work. When it did... he hid the success from Dr. Odine himself, which wasn't entirely hard to do since by then contact between Esthar and the outside world was minimal at best. He was probably afraid of what the scientist would DO with it if he knew it worked. Cid initially planned it as a surprise for the gang so that they'd be able to see us again..." She began to choke up, and paused to cover it up. Sharon noticed this, and picked up where her best friend left off.

"Unfortunately, with the world going down the shit hole and all with no real explanation as to WHY, things were kinda hectic overall. Cid decided he'd had enough trying to pull strings to get shit under control, and sent the only people he knew he could trust to try to see what the fuck was going on on the down low. They set out... and... uh... haven't... come back. So... we're here to ... complete the mission they set off to do, and most importantly, find out what the hell happened."

After a moment's silence, both the girls looked up at Laguna. The President of Esthar had retreated more steps until he was seated on the edge of his desk, his hands resting in a deceptively casual position on either side of him. He stared blankly at a spot above their heads without blinking, and whatever trace of a smile that was there before was definitely gone now.

"... So, we're correct to assume that this group included Squall." Kiros spoke up, giving a concerned glance to his long-time friend. "Is there anyone else involved besides him and now you two?"

"Zell and Selphie were a part of that group as well." Gina said. She almost mentioned Irvine and Quistis, but decided that it was best that they weren't too involved. _As it is, this is one big shock to the gut._

Ward frowned. "How long have they been missing?" Kiros asked.

"Eh... give or take a couple of months, now." Sharon estimated. "Long enough to make Cid worry and to dig us back up from the corner of nowhere as a last ditch effort to try and find them. And let me tell you, from just the little bit we've seen on the way here, I don't blame him at all. Shit has gotten hella serious with the gardens, and this definitely cannot continue without dire consequences. But... it also looks sort of hopeless on the same token. We don't have a clue as to what's going on, and we have even less of a clue as to where to find our friends that might as well have disappeared out of thin air. The chances that they found some other whacked out portal and sucked themselves into it are slim to none. And I refuse to believe that they're... not still alive. There'd be more evidence to support that if it were true somewhere along the way. So... they're still out there, somewhere. And Gina and I will keep looking until we find them."

Ward moved and put a hand on Laguna's shoulder. The long-haired male just cupped his forehead in his hands and stared at the floor, the feeling of shock not quite being overtaken by dejection.

_I've felt like shit a number of times in my life, but this has got to be the one time I've seriously just wanted to go out and kill myself. _Sharon wanted to change that lifelong phrase, "Don't kill the messenger" to "PLEASE kill the messenger". She was wholeheartedly convinced that dying would be easier to take than watching Laguna unravel. He was a man that undoubtedly made some mistakes in his life just like any other person, but was such a warm-hearted and uplifting person that it seemed cruel that he had to hear the news that his son that he never got to raise was mysteriously missing without a trace.

"Why wasn't I notified of this?" Laguna's voice wafted weakly towards them.

Gina and Sharon exchanged another pained look. "Ah, well... we're not really sure why..." Gina started, scrambling to find the right words to say and still fearing that she'll mess up somehow. "My idea is that Cid, being as equally distraught over all of this, was hoping to have all of this figured out so he wouldn't have to burden you with it. Just gathering from the few moments we were allowed with him back at Garden before setting out, I got the feeling that he's spending most of his time blaming himself for what has become of them and SeeD in general. He has so much going on in his mind that it's a wonder that he hasn't gone insane yet from all of the compounded stress. I mean... we were the last LAST resort, from what I'm understanding. And now that I think of it, I hope he's not beating himself over putting us in this situation as well." She cleared her throat and gathered up all her courage to look as squarely as possible to the President of Esthar. "All that being said... we know our duty, and we know they're out there. And we're going to find them, and bring them back."

A bleak silence greeted everyone at that moment, where everyone was pretty much left to their own thoughts. No one really knew what to say... what WAS there to say? Ward shook his head and moved away, looking dispassionately out of the large window that decorated the back area of the office nearest the large desk, while Kiros eyeballed the president and his long time friend with concern in his chocolate eyes. Gina and Sharon wanted to do something... but other than what they were already trying to do, there wasn't much else to it. They didn't have any new information other than quite a few surprises along the way, not all of them pleasant. But Gina thought of people like Yaten who would love to know that his sweetheart Selphie was okay. She thought of Cid back in his large office, swamped with paperwork and problems he didn't have the solutions for. And now she was faced with the sad visage of Laguna Loire.

_I'm tired of being the bringer of bad news. I'm tired of finding more and more loose ends that I can't tie. _The shorter girl pursed her lips into a determined line and straightened her slightly-slumped demeanor. Sharon glanced over at her with a questioning look, wondering what her best friend was planning to do or say. If she has any ideas, now is the best time than any to present them.

Unfortunately, before Gina could give a demonstration of her resolve, there was a loud knock on the door that made everyone jump unexpectedly. Without waiting for a reply, the door swung open, and a flushed looking Raijin appeared in the room.

"Hey, we found something!" He blurted out, taking a couple of breaths. Sharon started wondering if he seriously ran all the way back here from the White SeeD headquarters or something. "It might be connected to Squall and them, ya know?" He blinked for a moment, then seemed to realize where he was and covered his mouth for a moment and clearing his throat. "Ah, uh... sorry for the intrusion, Mr. President-"

"What about Squall?" Laguna waved off the interruption.

"They were, in fact, seen along the outskirts of Esthar a month or so ago." A new voice rang clear, and Fujin stepped gracefully into the room, closing the door behind her. "We did a little bit of investigation of our own, with some help from a certain higher-up." A rare twinkle of mirth shone in her eyes before she continued. "Most specifically, Squall and the others were last seen around the Lunar Gate."

Sharon frowned. "What the hell? Why would they be around there?"

"Not a clue. However, that's not the strangest piece of information we've discovered. On a curious impulse, I went back and looked at the data logs of the Lunar Gate. I understand it seems... pointless to do so, since there has been very little use of the base since the last Sorceress incident. But, I'm glad I did. The logs would seem in order by someone just passing over them doing a regular check-up, but I found some minor inconsistencies in the numbers, as if entire pieces of code were neatly cut out."

"Yeah!" Raijin interrupted, unable to contain himself. "Since Fujin's really good at hacking, she dug deeper and came up with files that state that pods were deployed to the base around about the same time the group of them were seen! It's crazy though, ya know, since it's like no one wanted anyone to know about this."

Gina's heart caught in her throat as she pieced the information together rather fast, and she instinctively reached up and grasped the silver pendant underneath her shirt.

"... You're telling me that the Lunar Base was used without my knowledge AND my permission, and that this information was purposely HIDDEN from me on TOP of all of that?" Laguna slid off of the edge of his desk, his face clouded over in a rare display anger. Both Gina and Sharon backed up a couple of steps, worriedly eyeballing the normally carefree man with unease. He snapped his eyes to Fujin. "Do you have an idea of who is responsible for this? Who was in charge that day?"

Fujin straightened her posture and lifted her chin slightly, immediately assuming an at-attention stance. "Not at this moment, sir. But I will get to work to piece together more information to-"

"Never mind. You've done more than enough." With a flick of his wrist, he gestured to Ward and Kiros. "You two. We have a job to do. It's time people remembered just who the heck is in charge around here." Without another word, he strode past everyone else in his office and out of the door, his two friends following close behind.

"... so, uh..." Sharon spoke after a couple of seconds. "Is Laguna gonna rip a new asshole to everyone at that base for pulling the wool over his eyes or what?"

"Basically. His son is involved, so that's probably gotten him extra fueled." Gina confirmed.

"That's pretty freaking awesome. I kinda wanna follow along to see the slaughter. I bet Laguna's even sexier when he's pissed the hell off."

Fujin raised an eyebrow. "Well... I believe it would be safe to assume that the pod launching incident and the disappearance of Squall, Selphie, and Zell are connected. And, if that information is correct, then there is only one place they could possibly be."

Raijin nodded. "They're on that abandoned Lunar Base, I'd bet."

"The shit? That place is still standing after all the crap that happened before? Is it even SAFE?" Sharon exclaimed, her voice ringing off of the walls.

"It's debilitated, but I've heard that plans were in place to rebuild it and were put on hold due to the unimportance to reconstruct a base that would no longer have a purpose." Fujin said. "If anything, the only pods that would have been deployed to space would have contained a construction crew, but the time has long past since those plans would have been admissible."

Gina swallowed slowly. "So... if by chance they ARE there... how do we get them back? Would Laguna be willing to send people up there to check the place?"

"If there are any people left to SEND up there by the time he's done ripping heads off or something." Sharon quipped. "Eff it. I know a way to get up there. Where's that Ragnarok?"

"Uh... should be still at the Airstation, last I knew." Raijin offered. "Want me to call a transport so we can get over there?"

Sharon nodded emphatically as Gina turned to her with wide eyes. "Uh... Sharii-chan... you aren't planning to try and fly that thing to outer space are you? Please tell me you aren't."

"Well... uh... yeah, why not? It's the only good lead we've gotten so far, and damnit, I'm tired of running around here feeling useless. Besides, how hard can it be? Selphie did it, didn't she?"

"SHE HAD FLIGHT TRAINING!"

"... I flew a flight simulator once. It was a crappy demo version off of a starter pack I got with my first Playstation and the graphics were really shitty, but that's gotta count for something, right?"

Gina's eye twitched.

Fujin barely disguised an amused smirk. "Well, let's get you two to that Airstation, shall we?"


	19. Chapter 18

**A/N:** Of course, I'm smack dab in the middle of finals for Chinese… and I go "LOL instead of studying I'ma just type up a new chapter of the fanfic HAR HAR HAR"

It's a wonder I even graduated from undergrad at this point.

Anyway… I'm not quite sure if I like how I wrote this chapter, but I'm at a loss as to how to redo it so it "feels" right to me, so I'm going to post it as-is and hope that people will enjoy it, anyway. I think this is what I seriously get for writing two fanfics at once… not to mention at the most inopportune time. XD;

* * *

"Sharii-chan... seriously... can we rethink this?"

Sharon shook her head emphatically, opening the door to the transport and swinging her long legs out to the street, starting a long determined stride towards Esthar's Airstation. The gleaming ruby paint of the airship Ragnarok glinted in the sunlight from the rooftop of the airstation, casting an impressive shadow over parts of the sidewalk. "Nope. This is where we stop thinking and just start doing. We'll be alright."

Despite Sharon's determination and her random bouts of reassurance, it didn't help Gina's stomach stop doing flip flops and dread the upcoming spectacle that was most likely going to occur. It wasn't like she didn't WANT to save Squall, or that she doubted that he was probably somewhere up on that base near the moon at all... her brain was just overflowing with all of the possible worst-case scenarios that might happen as a result of an untrained person flying an advanced aircraft past the planet's natural safety net called the atmosphere.

Raijin and Fujin got out of their respective sides of the transport then, and followed Sharon into the Airstation. "Raijin, I need you to give the personnel here a reason for us being here and inspecting the Ragnarok. I don't care what it is; just make it good and believable."

Raijin stopped in mid-stride and gaped at her. "Why do I have to do it? You're better at that kind of thing, ya know?!"

With a roll of her eyes, she sighed heavily. "I also can't do everything at once. While we are allowed a significant amount of freedom in this city, there are still some things we should take the necessary steps to ensure. Just walking up and having a pair of outsiders hijack the Ragnarok while we stand and watch would not be terribly beneficial to the standing of White SeeD."

"Even though we're basically going to do that anyway?" Gina spoke up.

Fujin turned towards her and gave her a wink. "Of course. But it is all in the execution that makes the difference here."

The three of them caught up to the impatient Sharon at the doorway, where they all entered shortly thereafter. Raijin took his own deep breath and veered over to the most important looking engineers in the structure, undoubtedly preparing to adlib the most important fib in his life. Meanwhile, Gina and Sharon walked with Fujin, trying their best to look inconspicuous and as sure of themselves as the woman in front of them. They didn't let their eyes wander around them and instead kept their gaze straight ahead, mostly looking at the back of Fujin's head. After a brisk salute to personnel around the entry ramp of the Ragnarok, they marched their way on board, ignoring the half-puzzled looks of people around them.

Once aboard, Fujin directed them to the cockpit while she made rounds to make sure nobody else was on the ship. Gina and Sharon did what they were told and walked along the familiar hallways of the ship until they came to the main cockpit. The shorter girl paused in the doorway and looked around, unable to stop the memories that were flooding through her mind at the moment. _Man... has it really been that long ago that I was a sorceress, somehow struggling to keep the fabric of the Final Fantasy universe together while also trying to find a way to get back home?_ She remembered that it was also in that place that she had bit the bullet and told Squall what she and Sharon were really trying to do... and him being silently resigned to accept it. She had always wondered what was going through his mind that time, if she had hurt him somehow by revealing that she wanted to go back home, or if he was relieved that she would no longer be a burden or a secret that he and Irvine and Zell had to keep. Gina supposed she would never know, since that was some time ago... and even in the case if... _when_ they would find Squall, like HELL she'd ask him now. _Let bygones be bygones, Gina._

"Well, this will be like flying a Gundam!" Sharon plopped down in the seat nearest the console and raked her eyes over the dashboard. "Which means... this will either be deceptively easy or really freaking buttass hard."

Gina snapped out of her trip down memory lane and sat down next to her. "This is why I really don't want to do this... and why I looked at you crazy when you presented this idea in the first place. Neither of us are trained to do this kind of thing, and failure would most likely result in the loss of our lives. Did you think about that at all?"

Sharon's eyes shifted off to the side. "Well... uh... no... but you know, I'm just going by a saying my Mom told me; 'God protects fools and babies'. While we aren't babies, doing this would put us in the category of 'Fool', wouldn't it? So... no matter what, our intentions are good even if we are doing something really stupid, so God will take pity on us and see us through!"

"... your rationale is greatly flawed, Sharii-chan."

"Good! That puts me in more of the 'Fool' category. So I'll get EXTRA heavenly protection!"

While Gina face palmed with an exasperated breath, Fujin entered the cockpit at that moment and the sliding door closed behind her. "I've evacuated what little crew was aboard the ship, under orders of the President. By the time they figure out the President had nothing to do with this, you two should be well on your way to solving this mystery." She stepped over to the console and looked it over for a second before expertly touching a few of the buttons.

"Umm... what do you mean, just us two? Aren't you coming with us?" Gina asked, with a hopeful lilt in her voice. Fujin might never have flown the Ragnarok before either, but she trusted the white-haired girl over her well-intentioned, but still terribly accident-prone best friend.

"I cannot accompany you, I'm afraid. There are two reasons for this. One, it would be best for White SeeD to not be directly involved in this. SeeD, at this point in time, are known for being unpredictable and unreliable, and Seifer has tried his best to not only lead the White SeeD, but to gain the trust of the people of Esthar. This would endanger the credibility of the only outsiders that have been allowed within Esthar's gates in a very long time, and might also trickle down to discontent with the President, as he has personally endorsed White SeeD."

Sharon made a face. "Yeah, and that would suck. So... second reason?"

"Seifer doesn't know we're doing this."

Gina coughed up a lung. "SAY WHAT?"

"Seifer is oblivious to what is going to occur." Fujin reiterated. "After you both had departed for the President's Suite, I had to prod him quite a bit to do something about this situation. I'm sure you've both noticed by now, that for as surly as he can be, he does have a large heart. And it probably disturbs him just as much as it disturbs you and Headmaster Cid that the only people he has ever considered friends from his orphanage days have gone missing. But the only thing that was ever larger than his heart was his pride." She stopped and turned around, looking them right in the eyes. "Raijin and I might be his only hope right now, but Squall, Zell, Selphie, Quistis, and even to an extent Irvine... all of them share a bond that we cannot touch, taint, or hope to replace. It pains him more than he will ever let down his guard enough to mention that he can never go back to Balamb Garden and will never again be considered on the same standing as his childhood friends. The only way he could show his feelings was by throwing his weight around and getting information that they were sighted around the premises. Getting into the databases, approaching the President, and getting you two here were things that Raijin and I decided on our own terms that we would do... because we know that Seifer cannot."

Sharon and Gina were speechless. Neither of them could dispute what Fujin just shared with them, and in part it was something that they had both suspected all along. But hearing it out in the open almost made it unfathomable. "Well... uh... be sure to give Seifer our thanks for us, I guess." Sharon said after a moment.

Fujin turned back to the console. "Your thanks to him would be getting Squall and the others back safely. It would do more for him than you would initially think." She straightened up. "I've keyed in two coordinates; one to the Lunar Base and the other back to this Airstation. This will make your travel, for the most part, hassle free. The only thing you two have to worry about is getting the Ragnarok out of Esthar and far enough into the atmosphere so that the auto-pilot may take over."

"Well, that should be easy enough! This right here is the steering wheel, right?" Sharon guessed.

"Correct. Now, when I leave, wait approximately one minute before attempting to take off. This gives Raijin and I enough time to come up with an appropriate response to the Ragnarok taking flight. Depending on what Raijin has told those in charge, we might say that we are scheduling a test run to make sure the capabilities of the ship have not deteriorated, or in the worst case, declare that some unnamed crew has hijacked the ship and we will do what we can to detain them immediately. Either case, it's not for you to worry about. Just focus on getting out of here, and we'll do the rest."

Both of the girls nodded in recognition, and Fujin turned and walked out of the cockpit. Gina took a shaky breath and strapped herself into a seat. "Well, at least we don't have to, you know, fly this thing out by ourselves entirely. Now we have less chance of crashing and burning."

"Well, technically, we can't burn in space, since fire requires oxygen to fuel itself. Right? I think I heard something like that on the Discovery Channel once."

Gina just shook her head and rested the back of her head against the seat. She wouldn't think of the consequences. She wouldn't think of anything. In fact, she'd just close her eyes and pretend she was sitting in one of the comfy chairs in her dorm room back at Grand Valley State, taking a short nap because she didn't have class or work for another couple of days, and nobody was in at the moment so she had a little bit of time to herself. So, she let her mind drift away from homework and coffee drinks for just a moment... a small moment... just enough for her to get her bearings straight and-

"Okay! I think it's been a minute. Or who knows... I wasn't really counting. But I'm not waiting here any longer just to see, because if we wait too long then... well... I dunno, but I wanna get this show on the road. Ah... ah, fuck. How do you start this thing? Fujin didn't actually let me know how to do that... uh..." Sharon raked her eyes over the console while biting her lip, then pausing once she saw a large button that was blinking lazily in a slightly mesmerizing pattern. "Well. Um... what's this do?"

As soon as she pushed the button, there was a light whirring sound that started softly down in the bowels of the Ragnarok and softly escalated into a rumbling that vibrated their seats from the ground up. Looking at Gina in wide-eyed excitement, Sharon shrugged and grabbed the steering wheel and tilted it ever so slightly forward.

What occurred next was a whining noise accompanied by a loud crunch as the Ragnarok tilted forward at a sharp angle and rammed the nose directly into the ground in front of them, jarring both girls into a shriek. "Ah, shit! Uh... well... I guess the controls are reversed? Like in Zelda when you're playing the bow and arrow mini-games and stuff, right?" Sharon laughed nervously, as if just now realizing the magnitude of the task she was so intent on getting done just moments ago.

Gina couldn't disguise her furrowed brows and the terrified-as-hell look on her face.

Bracing herself to try again, Sharon reached for the wheel and told herself to think of it as a futuristic video game. Wipeout was somewhat similar... or at least that's what she was thinking. Either or, she knew she couldn't jerk the wheel around like a car without power steering. Grasping the thick plastic in her palms, she breathed and made herself pull back on it excruciatingly slow. Without letting herself get psyched out, she felt the ship straighten itself out, and ever so slowly raise itself from the platform it was resting on to hover higher and higher until she could see nothing but blue sky out of the windshield in front of her. When she figured she was far enough above ground, she made the ship tilt at what she supposed was an okay enough angle upwards and propelled forward.

"... so..." Sharon said after awhile. "I don't know what the hell is going to happen or if I'm just going to doom us to flying around the world at a 45 degree angle or something like that, but the only thing I can think that I'm MAYBE accomplishing is... aiming up?"

Gina raised an eyebrow and just looked out of the window in front of her. "That'd be my best guess, too. I know absolutely nothing, and the only thing I'm focusing on now is not thinking about what we're crazy enough to do right now and all of the worst-case scenarios that keep popping unbidden into my brain. It's half working."

"Well... if this thing had cruise control it'd be better. Right now I feel like I'll be pulled over for drunk driving or something because I swear I'm weaving. But if what Fujin said is right, then all I have to worry about is getting this ship past the atmosphere. Uh... I'm going to speed the process up a bit. Or attempt to, I should say." Sharon increased the angle and laid on the thrusters, gradually increasing the G forces as the Ragnarok climbed higher and higher into the sky.

"Dude, I just had a thought."

"What?"

"... when was the last time they fueled up this thing?"

"...... Sharii-chan..."

"Okay, okay, shutting up now."

Eventually, the light blue sky that was dotted with fluffy clouds faded away into a gradually darkening visage that signified that they were reaching the outer layers of the planet's atmosphere. Unfortunately, this also created turbulence as the Ragnarok bit through the gravitational pull at such a high speed, and Sharon found herself gritting her teeth and holding on to the steering wheel for dear life, forcing the ship to maintain a steady pace without being flung every which way. During all of this, Gina opted for clutching onto the armrests on either side of her and shutting her eyes tightly. _Well, if I die right now, then at least I can say I died doing something completely unconventional and heroic._

It seemed like an eternity before the ship finally evened out, and behind Gina's closed eyes she could hear her best friend's sigh of relief as the worst faded behind them, and a couple of beeping sounds registered on the dashboard as the Ragnarok automatically calibrated itself for space travel and headed expertly towards the pre-programmed destination. Allowing herself to tentatively peek one eye open, she found herself greeted by the all at once overwhelming and peace-inspiring view of the stars and empty space. Every now and then, she still thought about her childhood dream to be an astronaut. Gina supposed it was a pretty generic dream - almost all kids wanted to be a teacher, a vet, or an astronaut. It wasn't what she was doing now, or on her way to doing upon graduation at GVSU; she was getting her B.A. in Animation instead. And she still never thought that she would be finding herself looking at the darkness of space, especially not after the last time she was there.

Gina's eyes faded out of focus for a moment as her mind traveled back to the feeling of floating in space all alone, with nothing but a space suit on and limited oxygen, and realizing exactly what had happened. Even though she was free of the threat of being possessed by a megalomaniacal sorceress from the future, she did regret that her only experiences of space weren't pleasant ones. Gina supposed that one pleasant memory she could make herself hold onto was the moment that she realized that she wasn't alone, and that Squall had actually come out in space to save her. At that point in time, Gina had already worked double-time to save herself by making her way to the Lunar Base (without use of her jet pack, even), but it was definitely the thought that counted. _And I still remember that he actually admitted that he came all the way out there to save me, as well. Was it because I was a SeeD under his supervision, or was it because..._ Gina shook her head as if to knock the thoughts out of her mind. It wasn't the time to think about those things. _It didn't matter now, anyway._ Looking up and returning from her thoughts to the present, she couldn't help but feel butterflies in her abdomen when the sight of the Lunar Base came into view.

It was such a mess that if nobody had told them that Esthar had once tried to repair it then both she and Sharon would have thought that it was an abandoned hunk of twisted metal in some vague resemblance of a space station. Knowing what it used to look like and in what shape it was appearing to them now was a great shock to both of them. Neither of them got to see the damage the Lunar Cry had on the base, entirely due to the fact that one was possessed and the other was unconscious at the time. Plainly speaking, it looked like the world's largest semi truck rammed carelessly into one side of it, leaving metal bent outwards and a hole that gave complete evidence to the velocity and girth at which the streaming horde of monsters channeled towards the surface of the world below. Squinting slightly, Sharon could swear she could see faint glimmers of floating debris forming a slight halo around what was left of the Lunar Base.

"... this shit looks like a breeze could blow it apart, and we're supposed to DOCK the Ragnarok on it somehow?" Sharon finally said incredulously, straightening herself in her seat and looking around at the various controls on the dash in front of her, wondering if the auto-pilot would take over that last bit for her. "Gina, if they're really on this thing... I worry about what state we're going to find them."

The timid girl bit her lip. "I know... this doesn't look good at all. A part of me is really hoping that they're not actually here, even though that would basically mean that we stole Estharian property with no real purpose to redeem us... and that doesn't make my stomach feel any better thinking of that option, either." Gina sighed and steeled herself, looking up at the quickly approaching base. "Well, let's see what we can do, if anything. We're here, aren't we?"

Nodding, Sharon leaned forward and hovered her hands over the steering wheel, eyeballing the auto-pilot light as she was expecting it to disengage and leave her fumbling at the wheel once again. Thankfully, nothing of that sort came to pass, and the sleek airship glided around the back of the Lunar Base that was less debilitated, automatically connecting to a slightly hidden dock that seemed to be the only new piece of equipment that Esthar was responsible for building on the entire structure. The Ragnarok beeped twice before powering down, the whir of the engines that both girls had been used to feeling during the course of the trip dying down to a low hum before fading out.

"Oh... kay. So, I guess this means we get our asses up and out, now?" The pink and purple haired girl unbuckled her seatbelt, stretching before standing up completely. "That wasn't so bad, I guess. Now that I know which button to push to get the ship started again... and kinda how to steer... this should be less rocky once we have to leave."

Gina got out of her own seat and walked to the back of the cockpit, pressing a button to open the door that lead out to the other parts of the ship. "I guess so..." She paused uncertainly while walking down the main hallway to the exit, her brown eyes full of unhidden anxiety. "Sharii-chan? What if we DO find them?"

"Then... that would be good, right?" Sharon said, coming up behind her and placing a palm on her shoulder. "Listen, try not to worry about it too much. My stomach is fluttering because I feel like we might actually have gotten somewhere in this entire bigass unsolved mystery that's landed in our laps. And despite what I said earlier, I have faith that we'll find them in one piece, wherever they are. We shouldn't think of the alternatives."

Steeling herself once more, Gina gave a small smile to her best friend and they walked to the door that was connected to the Lunar Base, which opened upon their approach. Sharon let out a sigh of relief and almost started giggling to herself, which caused Gina to blink at her in confusion. "What?"

"Dude man, I didn't want to say anything, but I was half wondering if this base still had oxygen or if we'd get sucked out into space as soon as the door opened in a vacuum of anti-matter or whatever."

"I'm glad you didn't. That's one less worst-case scenario I needed flying around in my head." Gina sighed and walked forward down the eerily quiet hallway, her friend following behind.

The inside of the Lunar Base, for whatever the outside was worth, seemed to be functional and relatively free of disrepair. Reaching the end of the hallway, a glass door whooshed open quietly, leading them into a section of the base that Sharon couldn't remember seeing the last time she arrived. She supposed that most of the base had to be redone anyway, since there were no more sorceresses to lock up on the moon and there hadn't been another Lunar Cry since the spectacle of Lunatic Pandora arriving over Tears Point. They both looked around warily and carefully, not knowing what to expect but feeling quite uneasy at seemingly being the only people at a base that they were told used to be under heavy reconstruction.

"It seems really strange that they'd just leave a half done base like this without even a little bit of supervision." Gina noted, glancing up to the rounded white walls that shone in the combination of the artificial lighting in the base as well as what sunlight reflected off of the moon's surface through the spanning windows that wrapped part-way around some of the walls. "I know they probably deemed other things more important than this, especially since I can just see what kind of unrest it would cause many of the people of Esthar in bringing up something unfavorable that happened in the past such as this..."

"Yeah, especially since this design is hella pimp." Sharon said, walking over to a spherical device in the center of the room that looked like a large unlit plasma ball. "What's this do, I wonder?" She tentatively poked the side of the glass and almost jumped into the air when she saw that the thing lit up from the inside and an image came to life in the center. "Oh... oh, Gina, look at THIS shit! This is the coolest "you are here" sign ever!"

Coming over, Gina looked down into the sphere and flicked her gaze over it quickly, seeing what the different colors meant and where they were in proximity to other places. "Well, this will make it easy to get around. You see this green border around these areas? This means that there's life support enabled, and the red lines that appear every so often in these places mean that the doors are closed off to us to prevent things like... death via lack of oxygen. These areas over here are faded to gray and probably mean that they haven't even been reconstructed yet."

Sharon shook her head in slight disbelief. "Seriously, sometimes I don't get how you can automatically make sense out of things like this just from a glance. Are you sure you didn't study in the wrong major and are really supposed to be a techie that solves people's crash problems in Windows XP by day and hacks government sites by night just for the hell of it?"

Gina let out a laugh at that, despite the circumstances. "I still hate math, Sharii-chan. For as much as I can "hack" and know my way around some things, I wouldn't get far in the real world."

"... you said that the green border meant life support, right?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Because outside of the dock, this area we're in now and another hallway... there's only one other place with life support on this base." Sharon's eyes flicked up to catch Gina's. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

For a moment, it really did seem to Gina that her heart leapt up into her throat, because she seriously felt like she was choking. _Seriously? Could it actually be..._ She didn't know how much time had passed since they had started on the adventure, but it seemed like forever yet not that long at all. A part of her couldn't dare to hope that their objective was waiting for them in an adjacent room, that they had been hidden here all of this time. _But what am I really nervous about? Seeing Squall again? What will I say? What will HE say? Does it even matter? Now is not the time to be selfish._ She barely managed to keep her hand from reaching up and grasping the pendant that still hung underneath her shirt like she had done so many times before.

In unison, both girls turned and aimed down the next hallway, half running to the next destination that they felt would make or break their entire purpose for even being, once again, in the FFVIII universe.

"Holy shit holy shit holy shit!" Sharon chanted to herself, skidding to a stop in front of a door and pressing the button to open it multiple times. "... what the fuck it WON'T OPEN, OH HELL NO IS THIS BITCH NOT GOING TO-"

"Sharii-chan, that's because it's not the right door! It's over here!" Gina called from a door that Sharon completely bypassed in her rush. She shuffled over and stood next to Gina, her eyes wide. "Did you try to open it yet?" She asked.

"... no..." Gina said weakly. "I'm kind of scared."

Sharon's eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets. "What for?!?! This could be it, G-fuu!"

"I know! But..." Gina trailed off.

Calming herself down for a moment, she understood why Gina was so fidgety. "Ah... I know. Seeing your boyfriend after 4 years of not knowing how he was can be pretty intimidating, huh?"

The shorter girl sputtered, her cheeks turning a shade of pink. "He's NOT my boyfriend!"

"Uh huh, yeah right. Last I checked, you guys didn't break up or anything."

"Then explain to me why he was dating Rinoa."

"... it's canon?" Sharon said lamely, causing Gina to roll her eyes and sigh. "Alright, alright. All joking aside, let's just get this thing over with as best as we possibly can by first opening this door and seeing what's on the other side. If it's them, then we faint in relief, wake up, and get them out of here. If it's some mega boss type monster waiting to wreak havoc on the trespassers of this base, then we die a horrible and painful death. If it's nothing, then we curse up a storm, blame Hyne or some other deity we see fit, and get back on the Ragnarok and go back to Esthar and try to explain why we stole an airship. Simple, really."

Gina's eyes looked tired. "That was DEFINITELY not reassuring."

Counting to three, the two random adventurers pressed the button to open the door, and peered into the darkness to see what sort of prize would await them.


	20. Chapter 19

**A/N:** I probably should have studied for my finals. D: I failed one of them. Then I got pissed and retook it at the beginning of this week. I went from a 53 to a 96, not even kidding you; I was THAT pissed off I failed. So... I went nuts and memorized an entire Chinese book in order to ensure that I passed. If my teacher thinks I cheated (even though I sit right in front of her every class period), I wouldn't blame her. I don't particularly, ya know, want to memorize Chinese books for my entire educational experience in China... but you know what? That's how all the Chinese learn, anyway, so I'm just simply becoming more "Chinese". But I'm too lazy for this institutionalized academic torture chamber. :(

Sorry about the cliffhanger, btw. LOL I didn't mean to be THAT evil. I thought I'd update faster, but I wasn't anticipating the failage of the exam. D:

* * *

"Goddamn, is it dark as hell in here. As advanced as this place is supposed to be, you'd think they'd have automatic lighting." Sharon griped, feeling along the edge of the wall. "Because if there IS something life threatening in here, I'd like to know before walking into its gaping maw blind as a bat."

Gina rolled her eyes, unseen by her best friend who was inching carefully in the other direction, hoping to come across the elusive light switch. Using what little light she could get from the doorway that was still open, she could make out a console that just happened to be in the opposite direction in which Sharon was currently moving. Smiling a bit to herself, she walked away from the door, letting the entrance slide shut and encasing the entire place in pitch darkness. She could hear Sharon complaining even more, but she walked slowly over to where she saw the console, her hands out in front of her. The moment her hands touched the smooth surface, she called out to her best friend. "Sharii-chan! I think I found it!"

"WHAT?" Sharon's voice called back from approximately halfway across the room. "Is it working?"

"I'll see in a minute... this is going to take some lucky guesswork on my part." Gina squinted, and as her eyes became more adjusted to her dark surroundings, she could make out the faint glow of LCD lights that were covering parts of the console she discovered. Looking at the largest one that was more of a slider than an actual switch, the timid girl took a deep breath and used her pointer finger to ease it upwards on its track. _Please don't let this be some kind of booby trap that will eradicate us without a moment's notice._

Slowly, the corners of the room lit from what seemed behind its walls, chasing away the darkness gradually. Gina let out a sigh of relief and pulled her red and black braids away from her neck. "That's pretty neat. What do you think about it, Sha-" She turned to look for her best friend, but her eyes laid upon something else that managed to derail her train of thought.

In the center of the room, there were three large capsules, much like the one Adel was imprisoned inside in the many years she was kept on the old Lunar Base. Sparkling much like amber, the substance completely encased the very three people that Sharon and Gina had been looking for, arranged around a single pillar in the very center of the room that looked like its sole purpose of construction was to hold the three SeeDs captive. A glow radiated softly from within each contraption, illuminating its contents as if it were on display in a museum.

"Well, I'll be damned." Sharon finally said after what seemed like more than a couple of minutes in stunned silence. She walked around from her position to stand next to Gina, training her gaze forward with a wistful smile. "Looks like we hit the jackpot." She cracked a smirk. "And it looks like your man got a little bit more fashion sense over the years."

Gina didn't stop this time to chide her friend on calling Squall "her man", mostly because she was too busy staring at him with her heart beating frantically in her chest. Squall Leonhart's hair had grown out quite a bit, still maintaining the naturally unruly style that was known to him. In fact, the more Gina studied him, the more she saw that he ironically looked a lot more like his Kingdom Hearts counterpart than anything else. The leather jacket that was always his trademark was replaced by a loose black vest of lighter material, the silver zipper glinting in the light as it was left completely unzipped to reveal the familiar white t-shirt that was always a staple. His pants were also no longer leather and instead seemed to be made out of the same material as his vest, only still came with the same amount of belts that Gina could remember him wearing on his old ensemble. Black combat boots peeked out from underneath the hem, and as Gina searched her eyes back upwards to his face she took note that his black gloves were now fingerless and a lot more stylish than what he normally would wear. She also couldn't help but look at the spot where he would normally wear his Griever pendant, and her right hand came up to pull it out from underneath her shirt and examine it carefully like she hadn't done in what felt like so long.

She realized that if she continued to stare, then she'd probably start crying. She could already feel the first pinpricks of tears accumulating in the corners of her eyelids, and she blinked rapidly to clear them before coughing a bit and looking to Sharon.

"Any idea of how we're going to get them loose from these things?" Gina asked.

Sharon raised an eyebrow and twisted her mouth thoughtfully. "Well... I was hoping you'd figure out a way, since you're the smart one of the two of us. If you leave it up to me, I'd just see what my trusty staff can do and apologize for any accidental broken bones later."

Gina winced and walked back over to the control board she found that allowed her to bring light into the room. "Perhaps I can fiddle around with these things on here and see if they do anything helpful. It's worth a shot, anyway... since I'm not letting you hack at them with a stick."

"STAFF. This is not a STICK." Sharon clarified, holding out the weapon that she had gotten heavily attached to ever since she acquired the thing from Jenkins. "A stick wouldn't be able to penetrate anything. THIS, would at least be able to knock a good chunk off of the surface of this mess." She rapped her knuckles against the hard surface, tilting her head to the side. "... you know, this really does look weird as hell. You know how in Jurassic Park they had that hugeass mosquito that was fossilized in amber? This is what they look like, even though... they're still alive in there, right?"

"I would assume so. Adel was kept in a similar fashion for many years, remember? This doesn't look any different." Gina paused and pondered, her expression becoming slightly perturbed. "Although that would mean that they were at the Sorceress Memorial, since the only device that is able to do this kind of incubation is there. But I thought they were reported to be seen around the Lunar Gate?"

"That _is_ rather strange, man. But we don't know when they were there; before or after this crap happened to them. According to Fujin, shit was wiped from the system, so I don't even know what can be trusted and what can't be at this moment. Unless we get honest to goodness eye witnesses that might have a bit of a clue in, I don't know how all of this figures out." Absentmindedly examining a piece of pink hair, Sharon tossed it behind her shoulder. "First things first, we get our friends defrosted or whatever the hell you want to call this and see if they know anything. They should, anyway. I doubt they got themselves in this mess willingly."

Nodding in agreement, Gina turned back to the console and started examining what she thought all of the dials and the switches meant. Granted, there weren't too many of them, and she had already figured out what one of them did. She took a moment to put her analytical skills to work, and fiddled with a couple of the switches and things until a low hum sounded from the center of the room. Sharon backed up a few steps and eyeballed the three SeeDs, waiting to see what would happen.

"So... I hope that you touched the right things, otherwise they might get baked or something."

"Baked?"

"... yeah." A pause. "Well, okay, so I really don't know, but you get my drift."

Gina just sighed and shook her head. "Maybe we can focus on less pessimistic things and just cross our fingers?"

Sharon frowned. "But that's no fun. Where's your sense of adventure?" She didn't even turn her head to catch the incredulous stare Gina was giving her at that moment; she already knew it what and why it was being directed at her. Instead, she squinted at the figures in front of her. "Dude... does that amber looking stuff look different to you?"

The shorter girl blinked for a bit, stepped forward, examined it some more before tentatively touching a finger to the surface. To her surprise, instead of resting on the top of it, it pushed inward a little. She yelped and pulled her finger back, and for a small moment the material clung to her finger and stretched before settling back into place. "That feels so weird. It's... gummy or something, now."

Sharon gave a displeased and slightly nauseated look. "Oh, that's just great. I remember Adel reaching through that stuff to grab at you back then, so... I guess we'll have to pull them out?" She rolled up her sleeves and eyeballed the person in front of her, which happened to be Squall. "Alright, commander. It's time to come out of your beauty sleep in that gelatin cocoon, no matter how much you think it's good for your skin." Gina let out a nervous bark of a laugh before wringing her fingers and pushing up her own sleeves.

"Ready when you are, Sharii-chan."

"Alrighty, then. One, two... three!"

In sync the two girls delved into the soft matter, and for their credit they managed to keep their exclamations of disgust to a minimum. The matter they were reaching through wasn't pleasant to the touch at all, feeling warm and oozy to the touch and made them feel quite gross. They grabbed a hold of each of Squall's arms and pulled, each tug stronger than the last to get him free of his temporary prison. As soon as he was free, they all almost toppled to the ground, not really expecting such a significant weight change.

"Mmkay... please to be telling Squall to lose some weight." Sharon grunted, dragging him to the side of the room where both she and Gina rested him against the wall gently.

"No, he's fine the way he is. Besides, it's not like he's fat. All of that is just lean muscle." Gina tried her best not to spend too much time admiring the cut of his biceps that showed slightly beneath the short sleeves of his shirt, and didn't succeed.

Sharon snorted. "All I know right now is that he's dead weight, and it made my lower back hurt carrying his ass just to this corner. So, either I'm out of shape or he's too damn heavy... and I have too much pride to even possibly consider that it's the former." She turned around back towards the other two that were still in their coffins. "One down, two more to go."

If the girls thought that Squall was heavy, then they definitely didn't think that any longer by the time they got Zell Dincht situated next to Squall. Thankfully, Selphie was still her petite self, so after the two guys Sharon and Gina felt that carrying Selphie over was a piece of cake. Once all of that was finally done and over with, they readjusted their sleeves and stood back a couple of feet, admiring a job well done.

And waiting for them to wake up, or something.

Zell's clothing also got a slight upgrade from what the girls were used to seeing, but it still followed the same Zell traits, it seemed. A plain white wife beater covered his muscular chest, showing off what was definitely another tattoo. The same tribal pattern that was on the left side of his face now adorned most of Zell's right arm, starting from his right collarbone and tracing down to his forearm. His hair was still spiked out and as blonde as ever, and a small silver hoop earring was in his left ear. Baggy blue jean shorts were replaced by actual jeans, and were accented by a black belt painted with red, yellow, and orange flames. Gina saw this and smiled, remembering the hoodie that she got from him long ago that had a similar flame pattern on the front of it. _That thing is still sitting in my closet in my dorm; I don't wear it out since I think it's too special for me to wear casually._

As for Selphie Tilmitt, her brunette locks no longer rested an inch above her shoulders, but instead now came to about mid-back, held back from her face by a row of slim yellow bobby pins. Even so, a few parts of her bangs hung loose and were brushing against her eyelids and her nose, giving her petite face a peaceful angelic look. Familiar brown boots reached her knees, and yellow shorts were held up by cute black suspenders over a V-necked white shirt with quarter length sleeves. Completing her outfit were the simple touches of a black ribbon that was tied around her right wrist, matching the one that was tied at her throat, the ends of the choker left to dangle freely down her back.

As much as both of them could have possibly stood to entertain themselves for a few minutes longer, catching the miniscule details of things that were different from that they've seen four years ago... they really wanted to leave the base already and were getting antsy that maybe they had messed up and had "unthawed" them too quickly.

"... can I poke them with a stick?"

"NO, Sharii-chan."

"Why not? It works all the time!"

"Just WHEN is it 'all the time'? It's useless. Besides, where are you going to find a stick?"

"I have one right here!"

"After you just went through such great lengths to ensure to me that it was a 'staff'?"

"... I'm willing to temporarily concede a definition change for this particular event."

Gina just shook her head and promptly facepalmed, the sound echoing through the mostly empty room. As if it was a magic touch of sorts, Zell stirred ever so slightly, causing the girls to stop and stare wide eyed at him like they didn't dare to believe that he was coming to. Moving almost as if he was in slow motion, his hand went to his forehead first, giving a low groan. This set the others into some sort of a similar action, getting used to moving their limbs again. Gina stared like a panicked small animal at Squall, caught between hoping that he'd see her as soon as he opened his eyes and running and hiding behind her best friend. But she couldn't get herself to move. She stood in the same place that she had been standing for the past amount of minutes and watched the events unfold in front of her, feeling almost oddly detached in her plight that she couldn't entirely understand. _So, I'm just seeing someone that I wasn't ever expecting to see again. I already knew this, so... it shouldn't be a big deal. I mean, it's not like we actually dated or anything... even though I never got the chance to actually experience anything of that sort... and I'm thinking too much about everything right now, so I should just take a deep breath and cut off my brain for the time being._ Following her own advice, she sucked in a deep breath.

And met startling clear blue eyes.

At first, Squall wasn't really sure who or what he was looking at; his vision was blurred and slightly foggy, as if there was a film of something pulled over his eyes, and his brain wasn't that much better. In fact, he felt very much like he was underwater, and had trouble remembering what he was doing before ending up wherever the hell he currently was. He moved his hand and felt the smooth texture of the floor beneath him, furrowing his brow and blinking repeatedly. _Where is my gunblade? I don't remember setting it down anywhere..._ He looked up again at the figure in front of him, growing increasingly wary over the lack of a weapon to defend himself if the person happened to be hostile. Blinking a bit more, he waited as his vision came more and more into focus and his mind stopped functioning as if it was dragging in molasses.

Then, he simply stared back at the person that was looking directly back at him.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed. He was no longer sure if he was waking from a dream, or if what he was experiencing was a dream within a dream. All Squall knew at that moment that he was looking into the face of someone that was painfully familiar, but could not possibly be in the same time and space as he. It was impossible. It had been too long. Hyne had to be playing a cruel joke on the lesser beings that ran under the heavens. Mouth slightly agape, he caught sight of the visage of Griever, the legendary Guardian Force, engraved on a piece of silver that was hanging in clear view. His eyes drifted back up to her face, recognition puncturing through anything else in his being.

"... Gina?" His voice passed his lips in almost a whisper, but was easily audible due to the echo and silence of the room.

At that point, it really did take all Gina had to not burst out into tears. Not only was it not the time, she felt a bit like it wasn't her place to cry. _Rinoa should be the one crying over him, not me. I'm pretty much just doing what I was ordered to do._ Every part of her cried out in protest at her thought process, but she also felt her stomach drop at the memory of reading those online journal entries. Gina certainly felt that she would be better off now if she had never snooped around, and it was coming back to bite her in the ass. All the things she did know, she shouldn't know, and could never admit to violating Squall's privacy. That was one event she would be sure to carry to her grave.

She could handle, over time and distance, him being with another. She could not handle his loss of trust.

"What the hell..." Zell's voice moaned as he stood up slowly, bracing himself against the wall for a moment as he squinted around. "Where are we?"

"It's the Moon Palace, bitches." Sharon cracked, causing both Zell and the newly conscious Selphie to whip their heads towards the sound. "Alright, so not really. The Lunar Base, I'm sure you guys remember. Just uh... in the middle of a remodeling job, and you guys got the penthouse suite for the duration of your stay, it seems."

Selphie was ironically the first to react. "SHARON!?!?! OH MY GOD!!" She shrieked at a pitch high enough to make the guys flinch and Gina cover her ears for a moment. She flailed around in excitement before launching herself bodily at the colorful girl, almost making them both fall into a heap on the floor. "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!" She paused for a moment and held Sharon at arm's length, scrutinizing her. "... this IS you, right? Not an imposter?"

Sharon couldn't help but laugh. "Mmkay. If I WAS an imposter, I wouldn't say so. But there's only one me, no matter how many worlds there are out there somewhere, and I'm damn well sure I'm it."

"Holy shit." The blonde martial artist gaped in shock, looking back and forth between Gina and Sharon. "No fucking WAY, man!! How did you guys pull it off THIS time?! I don't even know if I can believe my eyes, dude." He looked over at Squall, disbelief evident in his gaze.

"I'm inclined to agree with you." The commander of Balamb Garden spoke, his voice much sturdier as he rose from his place on the ground. His eyes never quite left Gina, almost as if he was expecting her to disappear like a mirage the moment he glanced away for too long.

"This is so... this is so... just, wow!" Selphie exclaimed in a much more toned down voice, grinning from ear to ear and latching herself onto Gina's arm. "I'm like, so giddy I want to cry! But happy tears!"

Squall finally tore his gaze away from Gina to regard his teammates seriously. "Does anyone remember how we got here?"

Selphie and Zell calmed down considerably and exchanged a glance, blank looks and confusion abound. "Not... really..." Zell furrowed his brow. "Where were we? What were we doing again?"

"... it's kinda hard to remember..." Selphie mused, placing a slim finger to her chin. "This is really weird. We were on a mission for the Headmaster, right? An undercover one."

Gina watched them try to collect their thoughts, becoming more and more worried at their inability to remember. "Does the Lunar Gate ring a bell? We heard that you guys were last seen around that area before your disappearances." She was met with a blank look from Zell. "... it doesn't?"

"Why would we need to be around that place for? Our mission was to try and find some kind of common thread that was making all the SeeDs go nuts, and as far as I can remember right now, we didn't really find much of anything." Zell shrugged. "We figured it would take awhile, though, to see a pattern of sorts so we could address it. But it was too, gah, what's the word?"

"Sporadic?" Squall offered, pacing slightly, his head tilted down and his arms crossed. "This came out of nowhere and continued to do so wherever we went. It's madness, really." He stopped and looked towards the ceiling for a moment before turning his head to look over at Sharon and Gina. "... how long were we here?"

Sharon winced a bit. "Uh... give or take some months, I'd estimate."

"WHAT THE HELL? MONTHS?" Zell freaked out.

"Yeah. But you know what, I think it's more fucked up that you guys don't remember a damn thing about where you were before now. That's slightly more than a minor case of amnesia." Her brown eyes met Squall's seriously, her mouth set in a line. "Cid has been worried sick about you guys. I know it's definitely not your fault and I'm sure if you could have done something to prevent this from happening, you would have. I'm thinking you guys were ambushed, brainwashed, and hypnotized."

Selphie shook her head in disbelief. "Seriously, no way! We're SeeDs, and we survived worse than rookies going bonkers and have more than enough ground experience to be alert. I mean, you can call me elitist if you want to, but no one out there has the skills to trip us up in that fashion. If we were ambushed, then we would have retaliated. And they would have had to kill us before we would allow ourselves to be brainwashed."

Sharon lifted an eyebrow and tilted her head back at the capsules behind her. "So, you guys volunteered to be put in a stasis and just don't remember doing it?"

Zell just scratched his head then. "This is a little bit fucked up. There are too many loose ends."

"Yes, too many." Squall said. "But there's no way we can figure all of it out right now. We need time. And before that, we definitely need to rendezvous with Headmaster Cid. He needs to know we're alive and well."

Gina nodded and turned towards the door. "Well, we have the Ragnarok docked and ready, so we can-"

"OOOOOH, THE RAGNAROK!!!" Selphie squealed. "CAN I FLY IT CAN I FLY IT CAN I PRETTY PLEASE I HAVEN'T SEEN IT IN SO LONG AND I KINDA MISS IT AND-"

"Good lord, yes!" Sharon cut off the giddy girl before she permanently damaged everyone's ears. "We need someone who knows what they're doing behind the wheel, for real. It's a miracle that I didn't crash us on the way up here, but..." She paused, remembering Fujin's handiwork and sighed wearily. "Damn, that's a long story. Let's just get out of here, you guys get the point."

Selphie barely waited for the room door to fully slide open before she skipped out, taking a moment to look around at her surroundings before leading the way down the hallway to the only other lit and accessible room on the base. Sharon and Zell followed, and Gina and Squall brought up the rear. Gina tried her hardest to be as relaxed as possible, but she was hyper aware of Squall's presence about half a foot away from her and it completely disrupted any kind of calm that she tried to scrounge up. Her heart was palpitating irregularly, and her brain was going in too many different directions, not all of them good ones. Thankfully, it seemed as though Squall was too deep in his mind to particularly notice, working through what had to be done and the mystery of their disappearance to be too concerned about anything else.

"So, spill it." Zell prodded at Sharon with a finger in her rib, making the ticklish girl squeak and jump away a couple of feet. "How'd you do it?"

"Auto-pilot." She answered plainly, garnering her a look from him.

"No, you know what I mean! How'd you get here? Back to this world?"

"Oh. Auto-pilot." Sharon answered again before laughing and waving her hands in surrender. "Honestly, it's way complicated. I half don't want to even get into it because it seems so freaking involved."

Selphie turned around, in the doorway of the Ragnarok already. "Don't tell me you guys came all the way just to save us."

Gina gave a lopsided sheepish smile. "Well... yeah. We can't take all the credit, though. If it wasn't for Cid going above and beyond to get in touch of us, we never would have known. I'm grateful though, that we were able to help."

"Yeah, and Grand Valley's boring as fuck, as always." Sharon added. "A lot warmer now than when Squall and Zell were around and less like a frozen tundra, but still boring. We needed a break from normality." She climbed the stairs inside the ship, watching as Selphie disappeared up ahead into the cockpit, most probably doing more bouncing around in glee.

Zell shook his head but smiled widely. "You guys are so insane, but the coolest people I know. And I'm not letting you off the hook until you tell me all the events that led up to you being right here. Did the portal come back or something? Did you guys find a pocket of space to hang out in until popping back up here randomly? Or maybe-"

"Alright, alright!" Sharon caved. "I'll fill you guys in, damn. I figure we'll have enough time to get it all out on the way back to Esthar. Just um... tell Selphie to fly slow or something. Or maybe make a circuit around the world. It's gonna be hell when we land."

"Why?" Squall spoke up from behind them, coming out of his mental cave long enough to catch the final parts of the discussion.

Sharon pushed her bangs from her forehead, attempting to be nonchalant. "Oh well, we kinda had to steal this thing to fly out to space to get you guys, so we're going to have hella explaining to do."

Zell's mouth dropped open again and his blue eyes almost popped out of his skull, while Squall deadpanned her while blinking.

Sharon waved her hand over her shoulder and turned and went into the cockpit ahead. "_Meiguanxi_!"

Zell followed, still in shock. "MEIGUANXI? WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN?"

Gina sighed and lightly facepalmed, looking up and over to Squall to see that he had paused outside of the door, apparently either haven't gotten over the shock of the current turn of events or contemplating whether or not he actually wanted to go inside. After a few more seconds, he turned to meet Gina's eyes, causing Gina to furiously fight looking away or blushing. "How about we find a less raucous place to be for the time being?"

Gina tried her best not to choke or trip over herself, and was very proud of herself when she actually succeeded in clearing both of those goals. "That'd be nice."

* * *

**A/N:** LOL MINI-CLIFF HANGER AGAIN LOL

"Meiguanxi" is Mandarin Chinese for "It's all good." At least in that context. I'm going to save your brains a Chinese grammar lesson, because Chinese grammar sucks. D:

TILL NEXT CHAPTER!


	21. Chapter 20

**A/N:** Y halo thar! I was sick. D: And then when I started to feel better (a little bit), my computer screen turned off and required me to hard restart... and I had the beginning of this chapter up when I did so, which meant I lost it. Last time that happened, I was in the middle of finally getting over my writer's block for Severed Reality, and when my hard work got trashed that totally prolonged the writer's block for at least another half year or so.

As it turns out, I'm kind of glad my last copy of this got lost, because my re-write flowed a LOT better than what I had before. I felt more comfortable and a lot how usually feel writing SR and now Cacophonia, so it was a mini-triumph for me. lol So, sorry for the wait.

* * *

Silence and awkwardness permeated the conference room on the Ragnarok, surrounding the two individuals that had just recently entered. One was standing in between some open space and near one of the many chairs that surrounded the oval table that took up most of the room, as if she couldn't decide whether or not it'd be okay to sit down or if it'd just be better to remain standing. The other was in a trademark pose that was all too familiar, his arms folded across the expanse of his chest and leaning against the table a couple of feet away, currently busying himself with staring out of the large window that covered at least half of the conference room. The sight outside was beautiful, if not repetitive. All that greeted them both at that moment was dark space pinpricked with the glow of stars, some of them closer to them than others, but they all oddly seemed the same distance away; untouchable, unreachable.

Gina oddly wondered if the stars in the universe were some weird analogy of sorts for how she was feeling towards the only other occupant of the conference room. Hell, she couldn't even say for sure if she was happy to see him again. Common sense told her that she was, of course... but that didn't get past the myriad of confusing and conflicting emotions that were currently striking up quite a hurricane in her mind. One that stood out at the moment was certainly nervousness. She glanced down at her hands and wrung them lightly, not knowing how to strike up a conversation with someone she wasn't entirely sure up until the last most recent moments she was ever going to see again. _Gah. I'm no stranger to awkward parties, but this is kind of ridiculous._

Finally, at least the silence broke. "I find this ironic." Gina looked up at Squall then, whose eyes didn't quite leave the stars in front of him. "Last time we were here, it was me trying to save you, wasn't it?"

The shy girl cracked a small smile. "Yeah... it was." She shrugged in what she hoped was in a nonchalant and casual manner. "Just consider it returning the favor."

He nodded, a corner of his mouth upturned as he studied the sky for a moment more before turning his head completely to look at her. "How've you been?"

Gina tried, but she couldn't stop the snort that came out of her nose as a knee-jerk reaction to the inquiry. Squall's eyebrow rose at that, already knowing what that meant without actually knowing the details. "That bad?"

"Not really. Just... a lot of things happening in such a short amount of time. Overwhelming, if anything else." Gina said tiredly, finally getting over her awkwardness enough to sit down in the chair closest to her. "Let's see... in terms of Grand Valley, Sharii-chan and I are due to graduate next year. I don't think it's really hit either of us yet, since we've been there for what seems like forever, you know? But... it had to end someday."

_All things have to end someday. _Squall nodded and examined Gina calmly, taking in her words while his mind worked in the background. It's _so hard to believe that it's been that long... where did time go? _So much, yet so little has been going on in his life to the point where his concept of time itself has been grinded down to the course of an individual day and not much else outside of it. He supposed he could blame that on the relative monotony that his job offered him... but that also wasn't the sole reason for his lack of a real life.

"You're probably also wondering how we got here, too." Gina continued. "Sharii-chan's probably giving a much more detailed and comical rendition of events, but I'll give you the basics. Cid... he came across an invention by Odine that managed to recreate the portal that was used to transport each of us back and forth between the worlds, and before Odine himself realized it actually worked, the Headmaster had it constructed at Garden away from the doctor's uh... probably less than sane intentions."

"Smart move."

"Tell me about it. I don't really want to know what Odine's science ravaged mind would do with that kind of thing. Anyway, Cid was planning on using it to assemble a surprise homecoming for all of us... but that was before... well, everything happened here, I guess." Gina's mind involuntarily flashed back to the journal entries she shouldn't have seen, and she pushed them back down in the recesses of her mind. _It's not important right now. _"So instead, he sent Xu to GV to find us..."

"Xu?" Squall said in surprise. For some reason, he couldn't picture Xu blending in with the hordes of students at the Michigan based university. But then again, he supposed his point of view was pretty biased. The more he thought about it, the more he really couldn't see anybody but he, Zell, Irvine, and to an extent Seifer being at GV. Another emotion surfaced that surprised the Balamb commander; _jealousy? But that doesn't make sense. It's not my college, not even my world._

Gina shrugged, oblivious to Squall's ponderings. "I don't think he had much choice, and Xu he trusted the most out of those that were still around. So... needless to say, she found us, and told us what was going on and why they needed us back here."

"To find us." Squall stated, sliding into a seat next to Gina, making the girl inwardly freak out while outwardly maintaining a calm demeanor. He tilted his head to the ceiling for a moment and let loose a sigh, the now longish brown bangs fluttering slightly. "How did you guys...?"

"Get here? Well, that's a long story in and of itself. Took a lot of guesswork." Gina thought about the Timber Wolves, and decided against bringing that up right now. She figured that would probably unearth more than a fair share of worms considering it involved Rinoa and a lot of things she was pretty positive Squall had no idea she was involved in. "It was mostly just wandering around to familiar places, hoping to uncover some clues... probably a lot of what you guys were doing before turning up here. I guess... I guess looking back on it all, it seemed pretty hopeless." She trained her brown eyes down to the smooth surface of the table where her hands rested, picking idly at what little fingernails she had. "But we weren't thinking of that. I know Sharii-chan made sure we didn't, if anything. We just kept going, knowing that we wouldn't stop until we found you."

_Even if it meant stealing a spaceship and coming out to the depths of space, huh?_ Squall just looked thoughtfully at Gina, his clear, light blue eyes holding more than a little awe and disbelief for just how much trouble the girl in front of him... the girl that should be, at that moment, going to class and carrying on a normal life at a normal (if not a tad boring) university... had gone through and was more than willing to continue to go through... _for our sakes? _As a SeeD, this was not unusual. It was their job to do these things, when they weren't busy abolishing megalomaniacal sorceresses from the future, that is. _But this girl... _She wasn't raised in the same fashion he was, or any of the people who now wore the various uniforms and colors that represented SeeD. She belonged to a world totally apart from that Squall was familiar with, yet was still connected enough to do what a lot of people probably would not have done.

He admired her, in that moment, as he almost unconsciously had done four years prior during that long adventure that eventually lead to Ultimecia's demise. And, in many ways no longer the naive teenager he once was in those days, he realized something else.

He loved her. And there was no way in hell he deserved her.

Gina sat there in her chair, too embarrassed to look up from her hands while Squall's brain imploded at his own epiphany. Despite the silence and whatever was going on within their respective minds, they were completely at ease in each other's company and relatively oblivious to anything outside of themselves at the moment. Squall fought for control in his head, trying to think of rational connections to justify the way he was feeling. _When was the last time I felt this way? With whom?_ He tried, but he couldn't remember. He thought of Rinoa, and her image came to his mind then, sometimes perky, other times angry, especially if it was something he didn't know he did wrong. He'd been happy with her... right?_ Well, at least at first, before I really screwed things up. _Did he love her? Squall thought he did... and even now he couldn't say that he didn't. But it wasn't the same as the feeling he got when he was around Gina, a feeling that he supposed permeated every action he had taken to ensure her safety and never realized it. He wasn't even going to start trying to figure out exactly when he started feeling this way, since all that would get him was a bunch of theories and cross-examinations of his past self and would take more time than what he had to even begin doing that.

_Quistis?_ The blonde beauty, exotic in her own right, filtered into his mind then. _What was that? If it wasn't for her, then I don't think I would have known what love was. _And he was sure that day in his office he knew. He was sure hours later in his bedroom he knew. Now, it was all he could do to keep from kicking himself in the ass, literally. He cared for her, Squall could discern that much for certain. And ever since the fight between Seifer and himself in the bowels of Lunatic Pandora, he'd be lying if he didn't say that she'd become a miniature obsession for his idle mind to grasp onto, especially when things between he and Rinoa turned south. But could he call it love? He still didn't know. _Or, I do know, and I'm just afraid to come to terms with it._

What he supposed shocked him most of all was how he could trip over himself for perhaps hours on end going over his feelings for two women in his life, the only two he could say he knew intimately, when in less than a moment he had reached an undoubtable decision on what he felt about Gina and where she stood in his life. _What in the hell am I supposed to make of that? Is it any less credible than something I can say I've carefully considered, invested time and energy into feeling? Or am I just making all of this more complicated than it should be? Hyne knows I'm good at that..._

"Squall?" Gina's voice jolted Squall out of the recesses of his mind, and he blinked at her as she gave him a concerned look. "What's wrong?"

He shook his head, the cobwebs of his thoughts dispersing for the time being. "Nothing. Sorry... just thinking too much, I guess." _Isn't that the truth._

Gina nodded and looked back down at her fingers, an embarrassed blush rising on her cheeks. "That hasn't changed about you, huh?" She said softly, and smiled a bit as she cleared her throat. "Umm... I... uh... I hope what I said wasn't too corny." She blurted out, surprising Squall. "You guys are important to us... really. And it might really seem crazy that we did all of this, but Sharii-chan and I don't take friendship lightly, so when we heard, we-"

"No, it's fine." Squall cut her off in her tangent. "I'm just..." He paused, and after a moment's hesitation, reached up to the table and took one of Gina's hands in his own. "... glad that you're here."

Gina stared like a deer caught in headlights, her mouth still partly open in words she couldn't remember for the life of her what she was going to say. Her attention at that moment was tunneled down to the sight of Squall's hand on top of hers. She thought about how ridiculously cold her hands always seemed to be, except in the times when she was coming down with a sickness, and how shocking it must be to the touch for someone whose hands were always at the correct warm temperature. The calluses that Gina assumed he must have gotten from the years of training and handling of his gunblade was felt across her skin, but it wasn't grating or uncomfortable. She was overall very sure that Squall was close enough to hear her heart beating against her chest like a wild animal inflicted with the Rage virus. _ I don't know what to do! The last time I felt this flustered was when he gave me the Griever pendant, and then he..._

She forced herself to look up then, into his eyes. She was surprised at what she found in them; for a person who was as guarded as Squall, it was rare to find much of anything besides slight interest, complete disinterest, annoyance, or determination in his orbs. Gina had learned to read all of this well, however, she herself not being a person to be overly demonstrative with her emotions or thoughts. _My parents always said I looked bored or sad all the time. _So she had to keep herself from gasping at how open Squall was at that moment, and combined with the fact that his hand was STILL on hers, she didn't know if her brain was functioning quite the way it should have been at that moment. All she knew was that she was slowly drowning in his eyes that seemed to say everything yet nothing at the exact same time.

As soon as their eyes met, Squall was overcome with the urge to close the distance between them and kiss her, much like that time on the balcony four years ago. This time, though, he knew it would be different; it wouldn't be the inexperienced and awkward peck that the old him would have given. He also idly wondered if he would stop there. _Last time, I didn't. _That last thought acted as a sobering douse to his emotions and quickly awakening hormones, and he hesitated. _Don't make a mess of things; you already have more than your share to clean up already. _That, and he wasn't sure how Gina would react. They had barely sat down to talk after years of not being in each other's lives, and he was planning to do what, exactly? While Squall was sure she cared (that was very much certain), he realized he couldn't be sure of how she felt implicitly towards him. Hell, he wasn't even sure if she had a boyfriend or not. It HAD been four years, after all.

_A boyfriend..._ That was certainly something he hadn't stopped to consider in his moment of hastiness. The emotion that followed next washed over him like a tidal wave, completely drowning out everything else.

_I'll kill him._

Squall blinked, and the haze of red that seemed to bleed through his vision disappeared just as quickly as it had come. _Where the hell did that come from? _The more and more time went by these days, he realized he didn't quite know himself at all. Jealousy was a useless emotion, one he'd written off years ago when he had decided he was old enough to be beyond such petty emotions. Now, it reared its head in two different situations and two different ways in what was only a handful of minutes it seemed. _There has got to be something wrong with me._

Gina waited patiently, now that the urge to run away screaming had passed along with whatever it was that had sparked such a look of rage in Squall's eyes. There wasn't anything she could have thought of that scared her about Squall... at least, not up until that moment. The only thing that calmed her was the knowledge that it wasn't directed at her, even if he didn't say explicitly so. She knew him well enough to see that whatever he was going through, there was a hell of a battleground being waged deep within him, and it was surfacing in spurts just through his eyes. _What's going on in there, Squall?_ She frowned a bit in concern, and laced her fingers through his as a non-verbal sign of support. _You don't need to tell me. If I can, I'll help you through it. I promise._

_Just looking at her now relaxes me, despite her kind of being the catalyst to start up everything in my head. _Squall didn't know what to make of it, at all. A part of him felt like a spectator to everything. "Gina..." He started, not even knowing himself what he was going to say next. "I-"

"YO! Better strap in! We're gonna break through the atmosphere in a few!" Zell's voice carried over the intercom system, startling them both. _How much time had passed, anyway? _Squall looked back towards the window and saw that the sky was lighter and the view of the world was definitely closer than what it was when they had first entered the room.

Gina stood up, gently unraveling her hand from his. "We should get to the cockpit, then. Those chairs are much better equipped to deal with the impact of re-entrance than these things." She wanted to know what else the conversation would have netted had they been allowed to continue, but there wasn't any time. Almost at once, her mind re-focused on the task at hand, and she expertly filed it away for dissection later. One glance at Squall told her that he had done the exact same thing, and he was once again the collected, slightly aloof commander of Balamb Garden. He nodded briskly, and the two of them left the conference room and walked down the hallway until they came to the cockpit door, which slid open as they approached. Zell and Sharon were already strapped in, and Selphie was grinning widely as she expertly piloted the Ragnarok towards its intended destination.

"Get ready, guys! This is going to be the fun part!" She chirped, causing Sharon to raise an eyebrow in her direction incredulously.

"This shit is NOT fun. I've heard of turbulence before, but I don't like the kind that could result in parts of an aircraft being burned off. The feeling of dying is usually associated with events such as these, too." The pink and purple haired girl said as she clutched the edges of her seat.

Gina shook her head and settled into the seat behind her best friend. "This coming from the person who was telling ME the whole time to stop worrying about things like that?"

Sharon glanced back at Gina. "Yeah well... I can claim temporary insanity due to overlying circumstances that outweighed any common sense I may be blessed with, right?" She grinned and she watched Squall belt himself in across the small aisle behind Zell, and leaned as much as she could to Gina. "So, how'd the make out session go?"

Gina squeaked and shook her head frantically, causing Sharon to let loose a not-so-innocent cackle and attracting the confused gazes of the other two people in the room that weren't otherwise preoccupied with operating the ship. "I'll take that as a positive experience." She boldly caught Squall's eye and winked at him, causing him to look at her even more weirdly than he was before. Gina was going to facepalm when the nose of the Ragnarok made contact with the resistance of the world's atmosphere, jerking everyone into taking hold of the arm rests and bracing themselves for the hard ride in. Selphie's brow knitted into concentration as her slim but strong arms wrestled the ship into control and kept her attentions on the thrusters as she defiantly plowed through. Thankfully before any of Sharon's dental fillings rattled right out of her teeth, the ship's ride evened out and they were soon coasting through the sky, just above the clouds.

Zell let out a sigh of relief and rested his spikey blonde head against the back of the seat. "That sucked, but at least we're still all in one piece. Way to go, Selph!"

The brunette lifted a triumphant thumbs up before returning her hand back to the wheel. "So, the Airstation in Esthar, right?"

"Yeah." Sharon groaned as she looked back at Gina. "So, umm... any ideas of what we're going to say when we land? If we're not instantly detained and sentenced to prison, that is."

Gina shrugged sheepishly. "I haven't actually thought about it much. I figure if we just... land, and then show them who we rescued, it might buy us enough time to speak to the President or someone who will be less hasty on punishing us. Or maybe Fujin and Raijin are still there and can lend us a hand or something."

"Fujin? Raijin?" Zell repeated. "What the hell are they doing in Esthar?"

Sharon and Gina exchanged a look and took a synchronized deep breath. "Umm... well... they uh... helped us hijack this thing in the first place. We couldn't have gotten far without them." Sharon started, not sure how they'd all take the news.

"They helped you STEAL the Ragnarok?" Zell said in astonishment. "What... why the heck..."

Gina shook her head. "It's not what you're thinking, I'm sure. To cut right through the bush rather than skip around it, Raijin and Fujin are members of White SeeD, whose new base is centered in Esthar. It's how they have the authority to get around certain things. They more like, cleared the way so we could do all of the dirty work."

"White SeeD's still around? Wow." Selphie spoke up, her eyes still on the scenery in front of her as she lowered the altitude of the craft, cutting through the clouds almost artfully. "Who the heck would hire those guys after what's been done in the past at their hands, though? Not saying that they haven't reformed or anything, but still..."

Sharon shrugged and dropped the bomb. "Well, I guess that's what happens when your best friend is the Headmaster."

For a minute, the cabin was lapsed into silence as they all digested the information.

"SEIFER'S A HEADMASTER?!?!" Zell belted out, and probably would have jumped to his feet in shock if he wasn't currently still strapped down securely in his seat. "NO FUCKING WAY, MAN!!"

"Yeah... it's surprising, to say the least. But he grew up to be a good kid as it turns out. I think time away from everything helped him do a lot of soul searching." Sharon said thoughtfully, thinking of the person Seifer used to be as head of the Disciplinary Committee at Balamb, and then later Ultimecia's Knight, and even later the self-proclaimed revolutionary. "There's a lot more to that story, but I don't think we can go into it for right now." She nodded towards the rapidly approaching metropolis. "The requiem begins."

Gina glanced over at Squall, who hadn't said a word since rejoining with the group, and seemed once again lost in his thoughts. She wondered how he was taking the news of his once-rival being appointed to such a high position, one that nobody could have imagined him accomplishing in this lifetime. _Better yet, how is Seifer going to take seeing his old rival again after so many years? With us being in the same city now, I'm sure it's inevitable._

The ruby red paint of the Ragnarok gleamed in the slowly setting sun as it whirred over the landing pad of the Airstation, sending hot waves of air in every direction as it was maneuvered lightly to the ground beneath it. As the engines died down to a stop, dozens of personnel and a quite few White SeeDs milled around the door to the ship, waiting for its inhabitants to exit.

Selphie unbuckled herself and stood up, looking back at everyone. "Well, I've done my job. I guess it's time for us to face the press, huh?"

Sharon slid down dejectedly in her seat as if it would swallow her up. "Jesus, I feel like I'm gonna puke. I knew this was going to happen, but..."

"Thinking about it and being faced with it are two different things, I know." Gina finished for her, standing up herself. "I'd be lying if I said I looked forward to this."

Zell cracked his knuckles and stretched out other parts of his taut body. "They won't do anything once they see us. And if they try anything funny, then I'm sure I won't mind warming up on a couple of lackeys." He grinned his trademark wolfish smile. "And I'm sure Squall's with me on this for once."

Squall nodded. _I've threatened to cut down people like that before, and I won't hesitate to do it now. _As an afterthought, he remembered that his gunblade was still MIA, but nevertheless he'd do what he could to keep things under control. Under control meaning keeping their hands off of Gina.

Gina pushed a few errant braids away from her face and behind one ear as she tugged on her best friend's arm and got her up out of the chair. "C'mon, Sharii-chan. We started this, so let's finish it."

"Right." Sharon breathed a large sigh and resigned herself to her fate, squaring her shoulders a bit. "And we can't use these guys as human shields. That'd be just wrong. We'll step off first, and you guys can come behind us. They should know you're not involved in this, at least not directly, anyway."

Together they marched from the cockpit down to the exit, somewhat like a funeral march without the depressing horns. Gina paused at the door with her hand over the switch that would open them to the outside world, and bit her lip slightly. Sharon squeezed her best friend's hand reassuringly, and Gina looked over to her and smiled her thanks, and caught a glimpse of Squall slightly nodding to her as well. All of that giving her the strength she needed, she depressed the switch and let the door slide up, and she and Sharon walked out first.

"There they are! I recognize those two!" A random personnel shouted and pointed, causing murmurs to go through the crowd. "They were the last one's on before the Ragnarok took off!"

Sharon winced a bit and tried to turn it into a sheepish smile, shrugging. "Well, we returned it, didn't we?" It didn't seem to matter to anybody as a group of SeeDs came forward to detain them. _Ah, shit. Here we go._

"Oh, hold on!" Zell spoke up, leaping off of the ramp and distracting people for a moment. "Aren't you gonna give them a chance to explain themselves?" Selphie bounded off after him, and Squall was already at Gina's side in a semi-protective stance.

One of the SeeDs stopped in mid stride and stared at Squall. "Commander Leonhart? What are you doing here?"

Squall studied the young man in front of him, trying to place his face to no avail. "Do I know you?"

The officer shook his head, looking slightly ashamed. "No, but... well, I used to be a Balamb Garden SeeD. I graduated after you did, but I was around for the Sorceress battles and such..." He took another look at people who disembarked the Ragnarok, his eyes going wide in recognition. "Tilmitt, Dincht..." His eyes looked over the two hijackers. "Gladden and Stewart? Everyone thought you guys had disappeared!"

As the news spread throughout the station, the murmurs got louder and lost all of their hostile undertones and quickly became astonished and excited. Sharon and Gina exchanged glances. It wasn't how they had expected things to go, but it was better than being labeled as criminals and shipped off to D-Prison.

"May we request an audience with the President?" Gina managed to speak up, not being used to all of the attention being focused on her at that moment.

"Of course! In fact, he should be on his way here; we notified him of the situation with the Ragnarok as soon as it came up again in our orbit, so..." The White SeeD craned his head above the others and saw that the crowd was parting to make way for someone. "That actually might be him, now." Gina sensed Squall stiffen slightly as they all turned towards the people that were steadily making their way towards them.

The last handful of people stepped aside, revealing an exasperated looking president and his two slightly frazzled looking aides. "Okay, what in the heck drove you two to taking the Ragnarok like THAT? If you had just asked then maybe..." Laguna trailed off as his eyes drifted away from Sharon and Gina to rest on Squall, who was staring back at him with an unreadable expression on his face. Now that Squall's hair had grown out a bit, the similarities between them were startling. For as young as Laguna still managed to look, one could almost say that they looked like brothers. The president's eyes widened, and moisture had accumulated along the bottoms of his lids. "Squall?"

The commander nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving Laguna's. That was all it took for Laguna to breach the final steps and engulf his son in a bear hug, causing Squall to stumble backwards a couple of steps in shock. Sharon couldn't suppress her smile at the scene, and she started clapping. It wasn't long before everyone else surrounding the group joined in, thoroughly embarrassing Squall and causing Selphie to throw up twin peace signs behind them. After a little bit more of this public display of affection, Kiros and Ward took it upon themselves to usher everyone to a nearby transport, away from the buzzing crowds and back to the Presidential Palace to regroup and go over many important and pressing matters.


	22. Chapter 21

"So, you don't remember anything?"

"No."

"... not even a little bit?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

Squall sighed and placed a finger to his forehead. He knew Laguna, his father, was only trying to help. But how many times could he say "no" before the man actually got the point? "Anything pertaining to how we got into space, I don't know. We've all been trying since we were rescued, but none of us can piece anything together. It's almost as if a piece of our memory has been cut out."

Everyone was gathered once again in the Presidential Suite after successfully escaping the crowd at the Airstation just moments ago. At first, Sharon and Gina were twitchy about having people know exactly who they were; even though it got them out of a very tricky situation in the most unexpected way, they were supposed to be keeping a low profile. Not only that, neither of them was willing or could even figure out some kind of alibi that would explain why they had been missing for the past four years. But after both of the girls thought it over, they were glad that Esthar was so isolated from the rest of the world. Unless Laguna allowed it or people managed to get out of Esthar, then the news of their reappearance would remain within the city's walls. Gina further reassured that it was highly unlikely that either of those circumstances would come to pass, so it seemed as though the girls had lucked out again.

"This is really disconcerting." Kiros spoke up, leaning against the desk with a perturbed look on his features. "When we checked out things down here, the workers at the Lunar Gate were equally as bewildered. They didn't know what Laguna was talking about... but of course, that also could have been because he was yelling at the top of his lungs at first..."

Laguna whipped his head around at Kiros. "Well, could you blame me? I was madder than a Marboro at the idea that all of this happened right under my nose! And up until now, I was going to call the bunch of them liars and have them all fired on principle, but after hearing your story, I'm glad I wasn't too hasty. Something fishy is definitely going on here."

"Man, I'm just glad Sharon and Gina were able to get us out of there." Zell leaned back in one of the chairs, grinning. "I bet nobody else can say they have had friends come all the way from another dimension just to bust them out of trouble!"

"I know!" Selphie chimed in. "That was the last thing I was expecting. Now, we can have that reunion I've been hoping for ever since you guys left! We just... need Irvy and Quisty with us." Her smile faded a bit as she thought back to her orphanage buddies, one of them still MIA.

Sharon walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. "We're working on it. Just one step at a time. Now that we have you guys found, it's only a matter of time before we round up the others. Hell, we could even drag Seifer out to play if we wanted."

Zell trained his eyes to the ceiling. "It's been too long since I've heard the words "chicken wuss". I think I could bear to hear it one or two more times before I got the urge to punch him in the face."

Sharon laughed, and Gina shook her head with a slight smile on her face. _It's really good to hear them talk amongst each other, again... and I've got to say it's even better that we're reunited. _"Well, before we get started making party arrangements, we should figure out just what we're going to do about all of this. Random amnesia makes me unsettled, especially when we have no clues to follow on this." Her eyebrows furrowed as her brain worked, trying to fit pieces together if it was possible. "The only thing I can guess is that it's connected to your mission about what went wrong with SeeD."

Selphie tipped her head to the side, her green eyes confused. "That's really strange, though. Nobody knew about the mission except for us. We went undercover... AND we didn't know what we were looking for to even be tracked." Her eyes widened. "Do you think we were set up?"

Everyone tensed at the possibility. Squall frowned and shook his head slightly. "That's improbable, unless you're suggesting that the Headmaster is in on it."

"Psht, we can rule that option out right the fuck now, then." Sharon said. "Cid wouldn't set anyone up, at least not on purpose. The way that man was beating himself up after you guys went missing, I KNOW he didn't bank on this to happen."

"Then what gives?" Laguna asked, looking at everyone. "There's got to be something. It's impossible that something like this can breach Estharian security, brainwash the personnel, wipe out the computer records, AND sedate you three and disappear without a trace or motive. It doesn't make sense."

Everyone then fell into an uneasy silence. Nobody wanted to give up on something so crucial, but there were literally no leads to follow. What had happened to Squall, Zell, and Selphie was completely random, but by far the most disturbing aspect of it all was that nobody remembered a damn thing about it. If there was an ambush, then it'd simply be a matter of time to track down the people involved. Knowing the volatile state of SeeD, it wouldn't be a far shot to assume that it was either Galbadia or Trabia Garden involved if that were the case, as well. But, there was no evidence of a scuffle on the three that were abducted, and Selphie and Squall didn't remember leaving their weapons anywhere. As everything stood, it looked as if the three voluntarily walked themselves into a stasis on a barely reconstructed Lunar Base.

"Well... do the personnel need to log in with a unique code every time they access the system?" Gina tried, going off of her knowledge of computers. "If that's true, then at least have Fujin give you the records to that so you can see exactly who it is that was logged in or around the time of the data wipe. You could then personally interrogate that specific person, but something tells me they won't know anything, either."

"Psychic twinge?" Selphie asked excitedly.

Gina looked at her confused for a moment before laughing a bit and shaking her head. "Sorry... I think I lost that ability along with the sorceress powers. This is just an educated guess."

_It's better than nothing._ "If we're not going to find out anything more here, then we should work on getting back to Garden and informing Cid of our status." Squall stood up out of his seat. "Would you mind if we borrowed the Ragnarok to make it back? Traveling by any other means would take longer, and Selphie and I aren't properly equipped. The ship would be safer."

"Of course, no problem!" Laguna conceded easily, but his friends could tell that he was doing his best to cover up his disappointment that Squall was leaving so soon. He understood his son's duties and wouldn't stand in the way of them, especially not over something as selfish as his own feelings. But Laguna couldn't help but feel like he was reunited just to have him disappear again, not to mention the unsolved mystery of their abduction set him on edge almost to the point he wanted to slap a tracking device on Squall's clothes to make sure that nothing strange happened between Esthar and Balamb. "Don't worry about the folks at the Airstation; I'm sure they're not screaming "thief" anymore."

"I think they stopped doing that the moment they found out we're saviors." Sharon said dryly, walking to the door.

"See, I always knew that saving the world had benefits!" Zell popped up and followed her to the door, with Selphie tagging along with him.

Squall made a motion to go, before pausing and looking at Laguna awkwardly. Seeing that everyone was going to wait for their commander at the door, Gina cleared her throat and joined the rest of the group, gently urging them out. "C'mon you guys, let's work on waving down a transport back to the Airstation. We can't chance walking there on foot and getting mobbed or something." She turned to look over her shoulder. "We'll meet you out front, Squall."

He nodded and waited for the door to close before looking back at Laguna. The President of Esthar looked back at him, smiling with his eyes curious as to why he hadn't left yet. Ward turned pointedly towards Kiros, and the slim dark skinned man nodded in response to the silent exchange. "We're gonna go to the White SeeD base and help weed out information with Fujin. If we find anything of interest, we'll let you know." As they passed by, both Kiros and Ward gave them knowing smiles before slipping out of the office themselves, leaving Squall and Laguna alone.

_We're more alike than I originally thought. We're both in positions of power we never expected we'd be in today, we have friends that won't leave our side through whatever life throws at us... and we both have a past that we don't completely feel comfortable talking about. We may have grown to be completely different personalities... but there is more connecting us than what I could have seen years ago just looking through Ellone's powers._

"Squall, what's up?" Laguna asked gently, bringing Squall back to the present. He didn't even realize he had zoned out while staring at him blankly. Clearing his throat, Squall looked off to the side.

"I'm sorry for worrying you."

Laguna really didn't know what to say to that. Even though he knew they were making some sort of ground with the visits that he managed to make before Esthar completely closed down its borders and things on the outside got as crazy as they currently were, this was something completely unexpected from Squall. Truth be told, Laguna was silently preparing each and every day for the time when Squall would make up his mind and reject him as a father figure. It would be the final nail in the coffin, the guilt from the past that he couldn't atone for. At least once daily, whether he meant to or not, thought about the "what if" that would never happen. _ What if I had stayed with her instead of running off to play hero? Would the young man standing in front of me today be named Squall Loire instead of Leonhart, the surname invented by Winhill's residents as a final scorn to the man who dared leave his wife when she needed him most?_

_Now _I'm_ thinking too much._

Stepping forward, he embraced Squall in another hug, one less frantic and a lot less public than the one that caught him off guard in the Airstation. "Hey, it's okay. Not like you planned to end up in this mess, right? Just... be sure to take it easy. I know you don't like to do that, but you need it, even in the light of catastrophe. And, hey, listen..." Laguna pulled back and held him by the shoulders, looking him squarely in the eyes that reminded him so much of Raine's. "If you can't stop what's going on out there... don't blame yourself. You saved the world once, but that doesn't mean it has to be all on your shoulders to do it again."

Squall studied his father, letting the words sink in. _Am I trying too hard to save the world again? I never stopped to think about it... _"Thank you..." He started, nodding slightly. "I know it's not all on my shoulders, even though at times it's hard not to feel that way with how much people depend on me. But I do know that I'll do my best until I'm absolutely certain that it's a lost cause."

"I didn't expect anything less, actually." Laguna smiled warmly and stepped back, dropping his hands to his sides. "Thank goodness you're not a slacker like me."

The commander let out a half smile. "After all this is said and done, I might give slacking off a try one of these days. Might be less stressful."

Laguna gave a loud laugh at that, shaking his head. "I don't know about that. It has its own slew of consequences, you know." He tipped his chin towards the door. "Before you get me started talking, you'd better make your exit now. We'll catch up more later."

Squall nodded once more and finally walked towards the door to the office, a part of him longing for more time to stick around. _It's so strange... whenever it came time to visit Esthar, I almost dreaded coming here... but then when I had to leave, I found I didn't really want to. Maybe I'll make up my mind about these father-son meetings someday._

He made his way down the carpeted hallway and down the elevator to cross the lobby and meet up with the rest of the group, who was waiting beside a transport ready to take them to their next destination.

"Dude, what took so long?" Zell whined, winding down from his warm-ups full of punches and kicks. Sharon responded by promptly slapping him in the back of the head. "OW, what was that for?!" He retorted, rubbing his neck.

"Your daft comment." Sharon answered with a roll of her eyes and opened the back door. Selphie shooed everyone inside so she could get settled in her favorite choice of a window seat, and Squall brought up the rear and closed the door, half entrenched in his thoughts. In fact, he was so zoned out that it took three tries for Sharon to get his attention. "What is it?"

"You date Rinoa, right?" Sharon said bluntly, sending the transport into uncomfortable silence for multiple reasons. Selphie and Zell exchanged glances, Squall visibly stiffened, and Gina was staring at her best friend incredulously. _What the heck is she trying to do, get us busted for snooping through his personal files?! _The pink and purple haired girl just looked directly at Squall, seemingly oblivious to the change in the air. "Xu mentioned it briefly when we first arrived back in this world, since we were wondering what was up with you all since we'd been gone." She continued smoothly, her eyes flicking momentarily towards Gina before settling back on Squall.

He was silent for a little while longer before replying. "We were dating. We decided to take a break shortly before this mission, however." Squall met her gaze firmly. "Why?"

"Just wondering if you knew she was on drugs." Sharon flippantly answered, and before anyone could ask her what she meant by that, she tossed the small white bottle that she had taken from Rinoa's room at the Timber Wolves' base at him, and Squall's quick reflexes were able to catch it in midair before it fell into his lap. As he turned the bottle around in his hand to read the label, Sharon continued. "Looks like medication for something. Do you know if she had any health problems that might have required this kind of thing?"

"No..." Squall's brow furrowed as he examined the bottle. "Where did you get these?"

"Let's just say that I got them on sale - five finger discount. That's actually not important. What's important is who manufactured them, and what the hell are they supposed to be for. I just thought you should know, since I had a feeling you didn't."

Squall and Sharon remained staring at each other for a couple of moments, the rest of the transport waiting in a mixture of confusion, surprise, and baited breath before Squall scooted over and told the driver to change course to the Odine Laboratory. Gina took that opportunity to lean into her best friend. "I forgot all about those stupid pills."

"I didn't. I've been curious about them ever since I snagged them from her room." Sharon whispered back. "Sorry for almost making you crap your pants there, but like hell I'm gonna let us leave Esthar without having at least something solved around here."

Everyone fell into silence as their ride eased through the streets of Esthar, the red of the sun disappearing over the horizon for the day, leaving a brilliant wash of colors along the sky that reflected with almost an ethereal quality off of the many rounded surfaces that dotted the metropolis. When they finally arrived at their destination, Squall asked the transport driver if he could wait for them while they took care of some things before getting out and leading the group to the door of the lab. On the outside, Odine's famous lab looked like any other building in Esthar, but once being led to the inside, it was like stepping into a completely different world. Gina barely remembered her time in the lab the only other time she was there, because it was shortly after she was dropped off she was put unconscious for her and the personnel's safety. Now she looked around at various scientists shuffling around to different places, while others were holed up at desks examining or fixing things that she couldn't even begin to name. Everyone watched their step and tried to avoid getting in the way as they looked around the general area for the doctor, and after a moment of this a scientist stopped in the middle of rushing someplace and blinked at them oddly. "May I help you?" He said, not bothering to disguise his impatience.

"Where's Dr. Odine?" Squall asked.

"Busy." The scientist said shortly, moving to continue his trek through the maze of desks and materials. Squall deadpanned the back of his head, and Sharon raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really? Well, let's see how busy he is if you mention that his world gate transfer thingy worked, and we have proof." Sharon shot back, her head wagging from side to side. That certainly sent the scientist tripping over himself to come back to the group, his eyes wide behind his glasses. "That is a top-secret experiment!" He hissed sharply, causing Sharon to grimace and step back, wiping a few errant drops of spittle from her cheek. "How do you know of it?"

"Just let us talk to Odine, already!" Zell piped up, looking faintly annoyed. "We don't have all day. Odine can tell you all he wants to after we're through."

The scientist took another moment to analyze his chances of once again refusing the rag tag group admittance, but a couple of glances towards Squall's unfazed look and Zell's well-muscled form pointedly cracking his knuckles, he conceded. "Follow me. And DON'T touch anything." He added, sending a glare in Selphie's direction when he noticed the brunette starting to poke a vial of unidentifiable liquid. They followed the man around what looked to be the main work area down a couple of hallways until coming to a stop in front of a white door. He knocked sharply three times, then called out. "Doctor! I have a group of people here who are annoyingly insistent on speaking with you!"

"Did you not tell zem I am busy?" The distinctive accent original only to Odine rang through the door.

"They know about the portal machine! They say they have proof it works!"

A loud clamor sounded at that moment from the other side of the door, followed by many minor scuffles before the door swung open, revealing the comical doctor in all of his usual glory. Everyone looked down to see the familiar top knot on the head of the very short man, the circus type collar gone but the rest of his outfit as bizarre as ever. Sharon snorted and turned away before she started laughing out loud, and Gina peeked out from the side and gave a grin and a wave. "Am I proof enough?"

Dr. Odine's beady eyes almost fell out of his sockets when he recognized Gina. "Ah! You! You are here! Ze machine worked!" He actually bounced for a little bit on the tips of his toes in his glee. "I have been hoping zat ze machine would be as successful as Junction Machine Ellone! This proves zat I have not lost my touch!"

Everyone filed in save for the scientist who remembered his original plan to get something to another lab room and left in a hurry. Zell hopped over a myriad of random things and picked up the bracelet that he had been eyeballing since the door opened. "Whew, an official Odine bracelet for suppressing sorceress powers! Vintage now... but I bet you could sell it to a collector for a lot of gil!"

Odine hissed in displeasure and snatched the bracelet out of Zell's hands. "You cannot sell my inventions! There iz always a use for them in my laboratory!"

"So.. uh... we have a question for you, doc," Sharon spoke up, only to get cut off by Odine spinning around with an odd gleam in his eyes.

"You must tell me all about it!" He proclaimed. "How did Cid get it to work? What complications were there in getting ze machine to function properly? Waz there enough power to ze circuitry? Did you feel strange upon entering ze energy field? Iz there a log I can examine to perfect this tool?"

Sharon just blinked at him with her mouth half open, leaving Squall to roll his eyes and step forward. "Not right now, doctor. We'll give you details later, but right now we just want some information on these." He handed the bottle to Odine. "Rinoa's been taking them, without my knowledge."

Odine looked down at what he was given, and everyone watched as the prior excitement to the success of his latest invention drained from him. Selphie's brow furrowed as she peeked around everyone to see the doctor uncharacteristically sober. "Uh oh... that's not good, is it?"

The doctor didn't look up. "Has there been any complications?"

Everyone exchanged glances. "I don't know. I don't even know what they do. I was hoping you'd fill me in on that." Squall responded in a tone that plainly stated that Odine didn't have a choice in the matter.

There was silence for awhile longer before Odine walked around and absently pushed a bunch of random paraphernalia onto the ground, causing a bit of a racket but revealing a chair in the process. He sat down, his feet hovering at least an inch over the ground and his eyes still downcast. "I was afraid ov this."

Squall couldn't shake the brick in his stomach that had formulated the moment Sharon had given him the pills, and it only continued to grow into a boulder as more time passed. "What do you mean?" He asked calmly, shoving down the worst of his worries as he crossed his arms across his chest and fell into what he hoped was a casual enough position so as not to intimidate.

"This girl... Rinoa Heartlily, yes? She came to me, very troubled, in one ov the years past. I waz very surprised that someone would travel so far just to seek me out for help, especially since I thought eet was a simple case ov depression. She did not want to tell anyone ov her mood swings, she did not want her friends to be worried." Odine said slowly. "She wanted eet to blow over, but she knew that Esthar is known for its technology and scientific approaches to human problems. As eet turns out, she was good to come to me."

"Uh... why?" Sharon asked, trying not to let show how much she believed that nobody should trust Odine with a ten foot pole.

"Her emotional instability directly correlates with ze sorceress gene in her body."

"Sorceress Gene?" Zell repeated. "You trying to say that Rinoa has a mutation?"

"Sort of..." Gina piped in, swallowing down the worry and the sense of foreboding that was rising up from within her. "Remember when we were all about to enter Ultimecia's castle, and Quistis stopped to tell us the differences between the religious belief about sorceresses and the scientific belief? Well, seeing as though we're in Esthar, the scientific belief reigns here. From what I can remember about it, and also from one of the books that was floating around in Balamb Garden's library, females carry this gene. It's almost like a glitch in the DNA that sparks the use of sorceress powers. The good thing is about this, is that more people than you may ordinarily think have this gene, but it's naturally dormant. The only way it becomes fully active is through emotional stress for short periods of time... or through willing contact with another full blown sorceress."

"So... Rinoa's having problems because of her gene?" Selphie confirmed, placing a finger to her chin. "Why now, though? We got rid of all the sorceresses, so she can't have gotten any power from them."

Sharon and Gina exchanged glances. They really didn't have a good feeling about any of this, and both of them were hoping that what they were thinking wasn't what was actually going on.

"Regina, you no longer have ze sorceress abilities, correct?" Odine asked. Gina tentatively nodded, and Odine sighed. "Eet is confirmed, then. I have suspected, but there was no way I could know without examining ze previous sorceress." Before anyone could jump down his throat for his meaning behind that statement, he continued. "In Regina's world, there is no sorceress. Magic does not exist. I do not know if there was a time when eet did exist, but zat iz not important. Now, eet does not, so Regina cannot carry ze Sorceress Gene to her own world. But ze sorceress powers she has acquired cannot simply disappear, because-"

"Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be transferred..." Sharon said, remembering bits and pieces from her sciences classes that have long since past. "So... if that's true, then-"

"Gina's powers had to go somewhere!" Selphie filled in, her eyes wide. "And if Rinoa has a Sorceress Gene, then-"

"It went to her." Squall finished, looking grim.

"I did not tell her ov this." Odine got off of the chair and hobbled around to an equally cluttered desk. "I saw no need to perpetuate her panic, and first I gave her many ov ze bracelets to help quell ze problem temporarily until I could formulate something more concentrated. Thankfully, she knew not ov its original purpose, and her own need to keep her situation private would ensure zat no one else would see them on her person as well. After running a few tests, I have seen zat her Gene has mutated dangerously, unlike zat ov Adel and ov Regina. If left unchecked, catastrophic problems could arise. Ze bracelets stopped working for her quickly, much more quickly than I anticipated. So, I convinced ze girl that eet was a chemical imbalance in her brain zat was causing her mood swings, and prescribed to her these pills." He shook the bottle to emphasize his point. "I told her zat every time she feels her condition worsen, to return to me to get a new dosage. Eet iz a stronger suppressant than ze bracelets, so zat I could have more time to formulate a more permanent solution."

"Did you?" Squall asked, his eyes and face void of emotion.

Dr. Odine shook his head sadly. "I have kept logs that ze subject has written in terms of her condition, and have made my own notes and observations... but I have yet to find a cure. This iz a new Sorceress Gene, ze start of a new generation ov sorceresses."

"WHAT?!" Zell exclaimed. "You've got to be kidding me! This is a SeeD thing, and you're telling me that for the whole time Rinoa was under our noses we could have been doing something about it?"

"What could you have done, boy?" Odine shot back, all of his scientific righteousness evident in his posture. "Nothing! No human can hope to take down a sorceress! SeeD succeeded because ov my inventions, ze help ov a powerful sorceress in control ov her abilities, and a certain thing called luck. Even then, ze only solution available to you all at zat time was termination. I work to be able to stop this before it comes to zat." He looked down at the bottle in front of him. "This is more dire than you might realize. If she does not take ze pills, then ze Gene cannot be suppressed. She already seemed to be a girl ov many problems, so her mental state is far from adequate to control ze powers if they come to full bloom."

"Oh, shit..." Sharon gasped. "Rinoa's been missing for awhile from what we heard during our side trip to Timber, remember G-fuu? She obviously didn't take her medication with her if I found it. Fuck... does that mean she's somewhere out there with the combined sorceress powers of Gina, Edea, AND Adel doing Hyne knows what?"

"Wait, wouldn't we have heard something by now? Most sorceresses go on power trips, especially without a knight or something keeping them in check." Selphie brought up. "If she really wanted to, she could try time compression again. Or at least taking over a town or two."

"Not unless she's somehow smarter than that, and along with her Sorceress Gene she evolved and decided not to take the flamboyant stupid approach to world domination. Either or, it's not something I want to wait and see before acting." Sharon mused, turning to Gina. "What do you think, G-fuu?"

Everyone turned to the girl that had fallen just as silent and brooding as Squall had done during the majority of this exchange as the rest of the group was tossing ideas back and forth. Sharon could tell that her brain was working the way her delicate brows were furrowed and her gaze was unfocused, her mouth turning downward. Even Dr. Odine was waiting for whatever response Gina might come up with in the light of the situation that lay before them.

"I think..." Gina began, taking a deep breath. "That we should make it our first priority to find Rinoa. As SeeD, it's our duty. As friends..." She faltered a bit, not sure if she could ever call Rinoa a friend with the short amount of time that they were acquainted. "... we owe it to her to help her in any way we can." She looked up then and around at the faces of her comrades. "You guys stuck with me the entire time I was a sorceress. Without you all... I don't know if I could have made it through everything, and that's with me knowing what was happening to me. I can't imagine doing it alone." Gina met Squall's gaze then, whose eyes met her own with the same determination that she felt herself.

"We have a new mission on our hands. Let's get back to Garden and convene with the Headmaster before we make our next step."

* * *

**A/N:** Just for the record, I absolutely hate typing as Odine. My spell check went nuts, and I almost tossed this chapter despite it's obvious importance to the plot simply because I DON'T LIKE IMPERSONATING ODINE!!! *throws a tantrum* RAAAARRRGGHHHH okay, tantrum over.


	23. Chapter 22

**A/N:** You know, I kind of wish that there was an easier option to edit already uploaded and published stories on here, because I'd REALLY like to be able to go back to Severed Reality and use the nifty horizontal ruler thing they have for real separators than the things I used before they actually implemented that. And fix minor grammatical errors I'm just now noticing. I know I can do that... but I'd have to what, basically re-upload documents to the stupid manager and then fiddle around with it in there and then replace the already uploaded chapter with the new one? Pain in the ass, I say. I just want to do cosmetic retouches, that's all. Ugh. I'll think about it later. I'm too put off at the unnecessary work it'd take to basically re-upload 57 chapters worth of ish.

Even though I'll more than likely do it, anyway.

* * *

Sharon flopped down face-first on the mattress, reveling in the fact that she felt like she hadn't rested in a proper bed since she and Gina had left Balamb Garden on the start of their very impromptu and crazy adventure. The cool sheets were a godsend to her skin at the moment, and she let her eyes flutter closed behind her tilted glasses as she let out a sigh. "Can I PLEASE just sleep for a week? This is the only place I can do it, since if I did it back at GV then I'd miss a helluva lot of class."

"For once, I wouldn't even blame you and probably would follow suit. All of this is tiring on more levels than one." Gina replied, stepping in the doorway of Sharon's bedroom in the dorm both of the girls shared, leaning against the doorframe wearily. "I think my brain is still spinning from it all, really. A part of me, the never failing optimistic part, was hoping that when we rescued Squall and Zell and Selphie that it'd be easier. Now, it just seems to have gotten more complicated."

"Tell me about it, man." Sharon muttered, her face still pressed against the pillow. "Who knew that Rinoa would be the next uber-sorceress? And that we'd be stuck trying to find her ass AFTER doing one successful reconnaissance mission? Grand Valley made me soft; I'm no longer built to handle marathon quests to save the world."

Gina went silent at that, and after awhile Sharon propped herself up on one side and looked towards her best friend in concern. "What's up?"

"You said, 'who knew'. If anything, we should have known." She shook her head mournfully, her black and red braids falling about her shoulders. "God, it makes too much sense..."

Sharon sat fully upright, then. "Uh, I'm missing something."

"Sharii-chan, think about it. Why did my powers go to Rinoa and not some other random chick with a recessive Sorceress Gene in her body?"

"Uh..." She blinked. "Because that's just how our luck seems to roll whenever it comes to these kinds of situations?"

Gina shook her head again. "Think in terms of the game. Who was the sorceress in Final Fantasy VIII?"

Sharon's eyes sparked in recognition as she put the pieces of the puzzle together. "Oh!... oh..."

"Yeah... it's this universe's way of fixing itself, I think. I can't figure it'd be anything else. I mean, it's too much of a coincidence to me that Rinoa would end up being the victim in this. She was really supposed to be the one who tagged along with Squall and eventually end up siphoning Edea's powers. She was supposed to be the sorceress Ultimecia used in Esthar to release Adel. She was supposed to be Squall's helping hand in the final battle." Gina walked forward and sat on the edge of the bed, her mouth turned into a frown. "It wasn't to be the moment I came into the picture... and I should have thought about that before fully activating my own Sorceress Gene in the first place..." She cupped her face in her hands. "What have I done?"

"Oh, don't you go hating yourself, now." Sharon scooted over and placed both of her hands on Gina's shoulders. "We're past blaming ourselves for things like that, okay? Besides, you cannot be held accountable for every single thing that might go wrong. I know you like to plan out everything, make sure that there are no loopholes or glitches or whatnot in whatever you do... but life is unpredictable, G-fuu. Our first time here, we lucked out. Sometimes, I still think about how much we were lucky. It gives more weight to the saying, "God protects fools and babies". We were certainly fools." She sighed and laid her head down on Gina's back, feeling the warmth that was so familiar to her over the years they have been friends. "Totally didn't know what we were getting into, either. And we COULD say we know now, but we didn't, so we effectively made the same mistake twice, didn't we?"

Gina silently removed her palms from her face. "Yeah, we did..."

"But you know what? I think I'd do it again." Sharon pushed herself up with a grin. "And again. And again. It doesn't take much to amuse an idiot, as they say. But honestly, there are some things that are just worth that risk. I think the friends we made here are more than worth it. We'd do the same for Jae or Steph or Megh if they somehow found themselves in a ridiculous predicament... although I seriously can't think of a situation this fucked up... but you get my point." Her brown eyes tilted down a smidge as she turned distant. "It makes me feel guilty for trying so hard at first to push it away. I... I thought it was for the best, because it was more painful than I thought to remember them and know that we'd never be able to see them again. I thought it was the only way to move on, you know? But... going through all of this and finding them, and seeing their astonishment then excitement at knowing that we of all people came back to save them... it struck a chord in me."

Gina looked back at her best friend. She could tell that Sharon had been doing a bit of thinking lately, somehow always finding time for introspection despite having to run around a world map aimlessly. She always seemed to hide it well under a mask of sarcasm and craziness, but Gina knew her friend by now. "Sharii-chan..."

The pink and purple haired girl came out of her daze and looked at Gina and smiled brightly. "Anyway, my point is, we can't dig up mistakes of the past to beat ourselves up in the present. It's not healthy, not in the least." She furrowed her brows for a second, and then shook her head. "Speaking of which, you might want to go check up on Squall."

"Why?" Gina tilted her head to the side. "We just got finished filling in Cid about all what we've learned and such, and I think everyone's split up now to do some resting before figuring out how to tackle this situation. I wouldn't want to disturb him or anything."

Sharon snorted. "Like Squall would ever find you a disturbance. Besides... if you're feeling at fault for this whole Rinoa thing, I can't begin to fathom all the shit Squall is beating himself up for right about now. Both of ya'll like to do that kind of thing, quietly beat yourself up for shit that you should just let go. He wouldn't talk about it with Zell or Selphie, and I'd just piss him off by being way too blunt for my own good. But he's also too prideful in a way to actually come looking for comfort, so this is where you have to do it for him."

"But..." Gina started to retort, and was greeted by Sharon standing up and dragging her to her feet and ushering her towards the door.

"No, buts. You know I'm actually right on this. I'm not as stupid as I look, believe me." She opened the main door to the dorm. "Just don't pull something private-LJ entry worthy while you're at it, okay?" Sharon winked, causing the shy girl to blush pink.

Before Gina knew it, she was standing on the other side of the door of the dorm she didn't realize she stepped out of, staring at the surface of the now closed door in shock. _I can never figure out how Sharii manages to do this to me all the time. _Not really having much of a choice then, she turned and walked down the hallway, passing random groups of SeeD that hadn't already retired to their rooms or other places in preparation for daily curfew. It wasn't for another hour, but Gina remembered vaguely during the last time she was here that most of the cadets and such were already in their rooms getting ready for all the tasks of the following day. _It's all just a sign to say how much things have changed over time, I guess. _Gina didn't know how well she took change; back at Grand Valley, they were preparing to build a brand new Mackinac Hall, and some of the things that she and Sharon used to frequent on campus were no longer around. However, in her mind, the same campus that she arrived on in her freshman year stood super-imposed over what the campus was becoming, and a part of her couldn't visualize it any other way. Even though she had been staying on the other side of campus for most of her college career at that point and was certainly in the midst of creating much stronger memories that she could hold onto when she finally graduated, when she thought of her university, she thought of Kliener, 5 hour conversations, an odd mix between Pew and Kilpatrick Living Centers, the joy and minor horror of skipping her first class and knowing that no one would ever bust her for it...

And of course, she thought of Zell bursting into Einstein Brothers Bagels with shorts and a T-shirt on, Squall's silent figure tagging along for things that he probably would never have found himself doing, Seifer's egotistical cracks implying just how much he thought he was the shit, Irvine and Sharon's never-ending bickering... memories and memories of a past that couldn't be revisited but made up so much more of who she was today than she initially thought. _ I pick the strangest times to be nostalgic, I think._

She reached Squall's office door without much thought, and paused with her hand above the door to knock. _If he's sleeping or something, then I really, REALLY shouldn't disturb him... and I don't really know what to really say... ugh... this is a bad idea. _Nervous knots started forming in her stomach, and she made herself knock twice before she thought too much about what she was doing and ran off. The knocks were light, and Gina was wondering if they could even be heard on the other side, but that thought left her mind when a few moments later the door opened and Squall's face appeared in the doorway.

"Oh, Gina." Squall said, surprise not hidden in his tone. He opened the door wider and nodded for her to enter. Gina gave a timid smile and stepped inside the office in which she spent a lot of her time prior to leaving on the mission. She looked around and saw that it was exactly how she'd left it... which wasn't saying much, since Gina didn't go through a lot of his things. _ Just the untraceable stuff of hacking into his private journal, you know. _She bit her lip and tried not to exude any incriminating vibes or anything, aka get her paranoia under control before it got the best of her. "So, how are you doing?" She said casually, taking a seat in a chair next to his desk.

He looked at her for a moment with a flicker of a smile and sat down at the desk opposite from her. "Do you want the short answer or the long answer?"

"The long one. Short answers can be saved for random passerby."

He chuckled wearily for a moment, and his eyes scanned his desk and fell on the vase with the single flower resting inside. "Honestly, I don't know. I feel... blank." Squall said carefully. "Just knowing that Rinoa is out there alone, somewhere, possibly possessed by sorceress powers makes me uneasy on so many levels. I could waste time and tell myself that I should have known. She was, and I guess technically still is, my girlfriend. How bad is it going to look when everyone finds out that I was not only dating an unstable sorceress, but one who was involved with an anti-SeeD group in Timber run by the same people we fought to protect four years ago?"

Gina tilted her head from one side to the other. "Yeah, I can see that being pretty messed up to try and explain... but I wouldn't worry about it. Cid, of course, is intrusting this task to us. If we can find Rinoa before anything major pops up, then maybe we can nip the danger in the bud." She fell silent for a moment as she thought. "At most, she'd need a Knight to keep her grounded."

Squall started for a bit at that. "Knight?"

"Yeah. Like you were to me while I was a sorceress. I'm not sure if the scientific theory found a way to work in the neutralizing presence of a male, but I do know in the religious theory that Knights were usually assigned to the sorceress to protect her and to help guide her to make the right decisions and to not become overwhelmed with the gift that Hyne blessed her with." She looked at him squarely. "Remember the time I was lost battling Adel's power? I couldn't see you guys. I wasn't aware of where I was, either. I just had the constant feeling of fighting against my own weight, feeling like I was being slowly suffocated... man, a lot of things I certainly don't want to revisit. I know that Sharii-chan had to be by me during all of that... but I couldn't find her. I don't even remember if I could hear her at times... but the voice that rang the clearest was yours. It was the only voice that brought me out of that when I couldn't find the way. If that doesn't mean something, I don't know what does."

Now it was Squall's turn to fall silent, resting on Gina's words. _ She has a point... but that would mean that I would have to be Rinoa's Knight. I don't know how I can do that when I obviously failed at being her boyfriend. I wasn't there for her when she needed me most... I didn't even know about her involvement in the civilian uprising in Timber. I guess I was too busy being relieved that she was giving me space to wonder where exactly she would be going after all those dates that either ended on an awkward or semi-hostile note. And Quistis... _he let loose a low sigh as his brain turned over all of the events that pummeled him. "I... I don't know if I could do it."

Gina opened her mouth to suggest that perhaps he didn't have to, but who else was eligible? "Why not?"

He studied the surface of his desk aimlessly, tracing random scratch marks made by an errant book or perhaps pressing too hard signing the many documents he had found himself going over multiple times during his term as commander of Balamb Garden. "I think it's because... that part of me is in the past."

"What do you mean?"

_What _did _I mean by that?_ "Whatever."

Gina smirked. "Oh, that can't be good. I got a classic 'whatever' from Mr. Leonhart himself."

He shrugged and stood up, smiling as he brushed his long brown bangs from his face. "It just means I don't know where I'm going with this anymore. It shouldn't be a matter of whether or not I think I can; I have to do it if it means the safety of the planet." Laguna's advice came to mind then, and a part of him rebelled at the notion of sacrificing himself in that manner. _But I don't see how there could be another way for things to smooth over._

Gina sat back further in her chair. _If it gets bad, then we'll most probably have to kill her. And as much as I don't care for Rinoa's character in FFVIII, I definitely don't want her to die. But I can also see that Squall doesn't want to take that kind of step. _At this, Gina's heart did a little leap for joy. _Ah, don't think too much on it, Regina. Just because he found himself wrapped up in being your Knight doesn't mean that he particularly wanted that to come about, either._ Gina watched as Squall stood staring out of his window through the blinds, his mind miles away from whatever it was he was examining on the other side. _Once again, he finds himself with everything on his shoulders, whether it be because people put him up to it, or because he knows what's coming and decided to do it himself. And if asked, he'll say it's his duty as a SeeD._

"Squall..." Gina said softly, half wondering if the question was worth it to initiate. "What if there's no way to save SeeD? I know that it's all that you and a lot of other people have all over the world, but... I've been doing some thinking." She didn't want to say that her thought pattern was brought on in part by Seifer's rant that shook her quite a bit back in Esthar; there was enough on Squall's plate at the moment as it already was. "What if the only way to save SeeD is to disband it before it gets any worse?"

Squall let his brain switch topics easily and was quiet for awhile as he considered everything. "I... don't know." He finally said. "Being in SeeD is the only thing that I know how to do, and I'd go as far as to say that it's the only thing I can do well. But I don't fault you for your suggestion... when things really started taking a turn for the worst around here, I found myself thinking about it as well. The one thing I couldn't do was bring it up to the Headmaster." He moved away from the window and back over to the general area of his desk. "Most of us here... we're still young. It might be hard at first, especially for those of us without families to return to... but we wouldn't have much of a problem re-assimilating ourselves into society. I wouldn't be surprised if most joined the army and helped it get back on its feet after what happened back then. I don't know if it's fair that we blame the Galbadian Army for its commander-in-chief being manipulated for the wrong cause." He ran his fingers over the surface of his desk absently. "Getting rid of Ultimecia was one thing that we had to do for certain... but it seems that ever since then, things have gone downhill. It's almost as like... the odd balance that we had before was uneasy, but in part we knew what to expect. Now we don't know where this road ends, or how to stop it. If I was a religious fanatic, I'd start saying that we were doomed to destroy ourselves from the very beginning."

Gina just sat and listened, a perturbed expression on her face. _I wish I could help him... I wish I could help everyone. As much as I knew before, that was because I followed as much of the canon universe as possible. I was my own Game Shark, so to speak. But no one really knows what happens after a game. The people and the universe are linear, not meant to exist outside of their original purpose. Now, this world is on its way to make its own history, a sequel that will never debut on Square Enix's label._

"But I do know this."

She snapped out of her thoughts to look at Squall, whose expression had molded into one of determination, one that Gina had seen many times before. "We'll get through it. I can't believe we survived Ultimecia to get this far and cut ourselves off at the legs."

Gina smiled and nodded, and opened her mouth to say something else when there was a loud knock at the door, and shortly thereafter Zell came barging in, dragging an uncomfortable looking Selphie in behind him. "What's going on, guys?" Gina asked, looking back and forth between them.

"Zell, what did I tell you about barging in?" Squall said, a bit of exasperation on his face.

"I knocked, though!" The spiky blonde defended, looking dismayed. "Didn't you tell me to knock before?"

"Yes, but..." Squall waved his hand to dismiss it. "Never mind. Obviously you have something on your mind."

Zell nodded emphatically. "To be fair, it's really Selphie's theory, but she was afraid to bring it up to you, so I had to convince her to say it anyway."

Squall blinked and turned to Selphie, who was getting more and more twitchy by the moment. "Well... uh..." She turned and pouted at Zell. "This really isn't fair! There isn't any basis to this, and if there was, then it could wait!"

"Until when?" Zell retorted. "It might be a long shot, but I think it's worth mentioning!"

"But it's silly!"

"No, it's not!"

"Guys, please!" Squall interceded, wondering what the big secret was. It wasn't like Selphie to hold back an idea of hers; usually, it was always the hyper girl speaking first, and with a peace sign added somewhere in the mix. _And every time I think we've grown past bickering like kids, something like this happens. _Even as he thought it dryly, he couldn't help but suppress a smile. _Times like these always help unearth some of the warm feelings of us at the orphanage... _"Selphie, what is it?" He asked as gently as he could muster.

The brunette turned her green eyes to him. "Uh... so... we know from Sharon and Gina that Rinoa is a part of the anti-SeeD group in Timber, right?" She started, her voice hesitant. "And... umm... things with SeeD didn't start getting really bad until, uh... you guys, um... called it quits. So... I was thinking that, um..." She trailed off.

"Are you suggesting that Rinoa is negatively influencing turmoil within SeeD?" Gina finished for her, her look incredulous. "I know she dated Squall, but what purpose would that solve? Not to mention SeeD was getting sort of rocky before they broke up, so it doesn't fit."

Zell shook his head. "Selphie didn't finish. I don't think she is, because she doesn't want you guys to think she's crazy or anything, but I think she might have something here." He started by holding up one hand and counting off on his fingers. "Gina leaves to go back to GV. Rinoa had to have gotten her sorceress powers as soon as she left to go back home. Rinoa dates Squall. Things don't go as well as she liked. More stress. Her going behind all of our backs and supporting an anti-SeeD group. Things get worse with SeeD. She's gone and she doesn't take her Odine pills."

Even Squall was having trouble piecing together these puzzle pieces that seemed to make so much sense to Zell and Selphie, even if Selphie wasn't too keen on admitting it at the moment. "... so..."

Zell looked at him as if he couldn't see the elephant in the room. "Dude, Rinoa's a sorceress! She's unstable without her pills! What was probably the last thing on her mind before she stopped taking them? SeeD! If you can't get the people to listen to how bad SeeD has gotten via protests, then the thing I'd do next if I was a sorceress is influence the problem magically. It's not like she'd have to try hard; ever since we got really famous after defeating Ultimecia, we've gotten a lot of idiots in our ranks wanting to play silly pissing games. Just a little push, and she'd watch as we ate ourselves from the inside. When all the dust dies down, people would see that her protest group was right all along, and then hail her as a savior."

Everyone was silent for awhile before Selphie flopped her arms to her sides. "Ugh, I knew I shouldn't have said anything..."

"No, wait..." Squall motioned, his eyes distant again as his brain worked. "... crazier things have happened, that's for sure. I don't quite know what to think of your theory yet, but I'm not foolish enough to toss it out without at least giving it a decent amount of consideration." He frowned slightly as his face took on a grim countenance. "This would explain the mystery of why we don't remember anything, and why nobody in Esthar remembers anything, either. It's not wholly explainable through any other theory we've hashed over thus far. No regular person would have the magic skills to do anything of that caliber, which is why I didn't even think of that possibility at first. But... a sorceress..."

"... has pretty much free reign over magic as a whole." Gina finished. "There's no Time Compression spell you grab from a draw point, but Ultimecia managed it anyway just through sheer force of will with the right chess pieces. When she was using Edea, she teleported from place to place, and that's not a common spell, either. When I reopened the portal back to me and Sharii-chan's world, all I had to do is concentrate on what I wanted to do... and that was a REAL long shot and it still worked. We really don't know what a sorceress' true potential is, and it's probably limitless. Taking all of that into consideration... we don't know what we're dealing with, and anything is possible."

"See! I told you it wasn't nuts!" Zell nudged Selphie on the shoulder in reassurance, then turned to Squall with an apologetic look on his face. "I'm sorry, man. It's gotta be hard knowing that all of this happened to poor Rinoa, but... I mean, if we-"

"We'll deal with it when we get to it." Squall cut him off, his face shuttered by a facade of indifference. "Right now, we need to inform the Headmaster of this if we're going to follow up on it." He reached by them to his office door and swung it open, and almost stepped right into Xu, who was in the middle of raising her hand to knock.

"Hey, Xu!" Selphie grinned and waved. "Long time no see, huh?"

Xu smiled shyly and nodded, her hands clasping in front of her. "I'm glad to see that you've all returned. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait until later to catch up. The Headmaster wants to see you all in his office ASAP. He says something interesting has come up."

"Good timing!" Zell said. "We were just gonna go fill him in on something, ourselves." He walked past her and then stopped and turned. "And I heard you got to see Grand Valley! I want the details of that later, okay?"

Xu blushed for a bit and nodded again, and stood aside so that everyone in Squall's office could leave unobstructed to get to the Headmaster's office. Gina was the last to exit, and she reached forward and touched her arm to make her pause. "Gina... thank you." She gave a wider smile, gratitude shining in her hazel eyes. "I knew you'd find them."

Gina gave a good-natured shrug and smiled herself. "No thanks needed. I'm just glad they're back." _Except for Quistis... I really hope we find the answers to that mystery soon. _She waved to the SeeD as she rushed a little bit to catch up with the group, making good time for the elevator in the center of the complex. "I'm going to go and pick up Sharii-chan. I'll meet you guys there in just a minute." They all nodded, and Gina split off down the hallway that would lead to the dorms, scuffling along with her mind working out all of the possible scenarios that could come about if the information that they compiled happened to be correct. If so, then it would be much more than all of them bargained for, and Gina wanted to see what Sharon's thoughts were on their latest epiphany.

"Sharii-chan! I just got back from talking with Squall and the others!" Gina announced as soon as she keyed into the room. "We might have a big problem! Zell said..." She trailed off as her ears didn't catch Sharon's response. "Sharii-chan?" Nervous butterflies erupted in her stomach, something she had come to know would be a precursor to finding something that she wouldn't like. She tried to calm them down as she peeked her head into Sharon's bedroom, and her eyes scanned every inch of the small space before she allowed her brain to fully admit that her best friend wasn't there. _Alright, Regina... calm down. It doesn't mean she was kidnapped or anything. She's probably in the bathroom or something. _But even as she told herself that, the uneasy feeling increased, and Gina walked back out into the main area at a loss of what to do. It was then that her eyes lighted on a piece of paper with Sharon's familiar handwriting, laying on the otherwise bare table. Gina swallowed and crept up to it as if it were a viper, not really wanting to know what it said.

_Hey, G-fuu_

_i was just sitting here doing some thinking while you were gone making kissy faces at Squall_

_yeah, I know, me and thinking is never a good combination_

_and I just figured_

_if we're gonna be meeting a sorceress_

_we'll need a sharpshooter._

_you know, just in case._

_i think i know of one that might be willing to help us out._

_for old time's sake._

_don't worry, i know what i'm doing_

_i think_

_lub ya, boo. be back soon-ish._

_*~Sharii-chan~*_


	24. Chapter 23

**A/N:** I LOVE CLIFFHANGERS LOLOLOL

Okay, so I didn't mean to leave you all hanging with the last chapter, at least for not this long. I'm not THAT sadistic. XD

lol, classes start again this week, lol. Meaning... updates are going to be teh fail in the future. Not completely down and out, just slower than they already are. D: It takes me forever to write one chapter as it is, I know... but at least I'm being consistent? :D?

* * *

Sharon stood in one of the suites she managed to get quite easily on her own, seeing as though it was late and not too many people were out, let alone catching a train to a rather desolate location. Her brown eyes peered through the lenses of her glasses, out through the window that showed the landscape blurring as the vehicle moved along the tracks, her mind the farthest point away from what she currently visually perceived. She knew that there was a simple outfit of black draped over the nearby miniature couch off to the side. She knew that a part of her had been planning this since she left Grand Valley.

But above all, she definitely knew she was insane.

Sighing and trying to calm the nerves that threatened to bubble from within, she wrung her fingers and sighed. _Just what the hell are you trying to do? Break into Galbadia Garden? Do you even know HOW you're going to do it? _Sharon scratched her head and sat down, letting her conscience batter her with questions because she knew she couldn't hold them back forever.

If it was one thing Sharon was good at doing, besides cursing, was jumping headfirst into major decisions without thinking about them. Awhile ago, she learned that she was the type of person who didn't do well with planning at all, having it fall through because of her ability to psyche herself out if given enough time and enough reason to do so. During her second year of college, she decided to take up the Japanese language and had hopes to eventually be able to study abroad in the Land of the Rising Sun. Unfortunately, by the middle of her first year in the language course, her brain had twisted around the grammatical rules of Japanese to the point of insanity, and the culture classes she managed to enroll into intimidated her into not thinking she could ever make it on her own in a foreign country. The year afterwards sealed the deal for her, when Sharon had forgotten to study during the summer and upon her arrival in JPN 201, she realized just how much she was screwed.

She could never have guessed that the year after that one, she'd be going on a three month trip to China on a whim, no less. With no prior knowledge of the language outside of the poor romanizations from the video game Dynasty Warriors, and what little of the thick culture she had gleamed from just one class, she found herself on the plane and on an adventure that certainly changed her life forever. Sharon still remembered the day she called home to her parents and told them casually that she had signed up for the program. Even her mother thought it was a joke at first.

The year after that, she found herself on the island of Taiwan.

And right now, she found herself on a train to the East Academy station, not exactly knowing why the hell she convinced herself this was a good idea in the first place.

_Most people learn from their mistakes. Unfortunately for you in this case, you aren't "most people". _She rested her head against the cushion behind her and stared at the ceiling, trying to work out some sort of feasible plan she could pull off with the lack of skills she had. "Ah... fuck it." She said out loud after a few moments. "Luck has carried me this far, so let's see if I still have any left in my name." She felt the train slowing down then, and the announcement rang through the speakers to notify the occupants that they would be arriving at the station in ten minutes. Gathering her resolve, she stood up and started peeling off her current attire, reaching over to grab for the other articles of clothing she had brought with her.

_I hope Gina doesn't freak out TOO bad after reading my note. I got this... I hope._

* * *

Squall, Selphie and Zell stood in a semi-circle in front of Headmaster Cid's desk, having arrived fairly recently and was waiting for Cid to share with them the news that they had heard about from Xu not too long before.

Looking around, the headmaster tilted his head a bit. "Is Regina coming?"

Squall nodded. "She will be shortly. She went back to her room to tell Sharon of the meeting."

Nodding himself, Cid leaned back in his chair. "Well, I've gotten a phone call from Dr. Odine. Thankfully, it was not to hash over the details of success of his invention currently sitting in our basement. However, it seems as though your visit shook him up more than he would have liked to let on."

Zell snorted. "Could've fooled me. He bit my head off for suggesting that this was a SeeD issue."

"I'm sure you'll be glad to know that he conceded to SeeD's involvement, if only to a select amount of hands." Steepling his fingers underneath his chin, Cid looked at all of them. "It seems that our resident mad scientist has constructed a device that is able to read the activity levels in Rinoa's Sorceress Gene, used during her visits for basic checkups on her condition. He managed to tweak it so that its range could be projected much like radio signals across the airwaves."

Selphie took a step forward. "So, does that mean he knows where Rinoa is?"

"He has narrowed the signal down to a point in the Centra Ruins. Dangerous territory for a girl on her own, sorceress or not. However..." He frowned and leaned on his desk. "Dr. Odine also mentioned that the machine picked up on energy radiating outwards from the same spot. He described it as ripples of water pulsing out to a disturbingly wide radius. It was easy to identify the energy as Rinoa's, but he has yet to discover the purpose. He advised us all to be careful, and to keep our eyes open for anything out of the ordinary."

"DUDE! I bet you that's like Selphie's theory!" Zell blurted out, his blue eyes wide. He turned to the Headmaster then, hardly able to contain his excitement. "So, earlier, Selphie and I were just talking about what we think is going to happen from here on out, right? And-"

The double doors to the office flew open at that moment, causing the entire room to start. A windblown looking Gina stumbled in, and took a couple of deep breaths and leaned one hand against the wall to get herself together. Ravi, who was standing beside Cid's desk the entire time, saw her and ran on all fours to her feet and looked up at her with a concerned look on his furry face.

"Gina?" Squall was the first to ask, looking at her carefully.

"Sharii-chan... gone..." She managed to get out, not used to the exertion required to run all the way from her room to Cid's office. She held out the piece of paper to them, and the commander took it and scanned its contents while Selphie and Zell scooted over to read over his shoulder.

"She went to get Irvine?" Selphie's eyes widened. "By herself??"

Cid cocked an eyebrow, his expression a mixture of surprise and amusement. "That's quite ambitious of her."

Squall just folded up the note and sighed, feeling a headache coming on. _Ambition? I call it stupidity. _"Isn't this just perfect."

"Do you think we can catch up to her? I'm willing to bet she's taking the train to East Academy to get there." Zell offered.

"The problem is, I don't know exactly when she left." Gina said, walking up to them. "I was gone for awhile talking to you in your office, and I don't know exactly how much time had passed. Chances are, she's probably there already..." Her stomach knotted itself in worry again, and she brought a hand to her torso to try and ease it.

The blonde martial artist cracked his knuckles in anticipation. "This means we have an excuse to totally crash G-Garden. They have Sharon as a hostage."

Squall just looked at him. "Zell, we can't possibly go around stirring up more trouble as it is between SeeD right now. Emotions are running high, and if Selphie's theory is correct, then the need to tread lightly is even more important than ever."

Zell actually looked depressed at the news. "Aww, man... but I was looking for an excuse to punch Martine in the face. I still haven't forgiven him for taking Irvine out from under our noses."

"Yeah... and I don't know what Yaten's up to, either." Selphie sobered herself, thinking on her boyfriend. His visage was drawn up from memory in her mind, and her lips twitched upwards into a wistful smile. "I guess I can blame being caught up in outer space for the lack of dates lately, but from what I heard Martine wasn't giving his SeeDs much leeway with interactions with people outside of Galbadia anyway. He also helped keep me updated on Irvine at first, but I think he was pushing Yaten away after awhile. I was so worried, not knowing what was going on over there, and mad that I couldn't even visit because of this stupid rivalry thing getting out of hand." Her small hands clenched into fists at her sides, and her body shook with an emotion that was rare to the perky brunette. "I hate all of this! I just want everything to be okay again!"

Gina frowned in concern and walked over to give Selphie a hug, and the petite girl buried her face in Gina's shoulder. Zell patted a hand on her back. "Things will be okay again, Selph. We're gonna go and see what's up with Rinoa... as soon as Sharon comes back with Irvine, I guess."

Squall couldn't help but roll his eyes at that one. "If she doesn't get herself killed."

Cid sat behind his desk, taking in the situation with an unreadable gaze. "Well, we shall hope for the best. It seems the situation has left us little choice." His lips twitched upwards in a half-smile. "However, I'm sure she has something up her sleeve."

* * *

Irvine Kinneas walked down one of the hallways in Galbadia Garden that would lead him to his room. Thankfully, he didn't have to put up with a roommate, since Headmaster Martine evidently thought that recluses made the best sharpshooters. A shadow of a smirk appeared on his face. _If he only knew how many of them used their single rooms to their advantage when it came to the opposite sex. _His boots clopped along the tiled floor that would always be the most familiar thing in his mind when it came to living at the Garden... amongst other things that it would do him well not to remember. Of course, every so often, they would emerge anyway. It was much easier to forget his not so pleasant past when he was surrounded by the people that mattered most in his life. But even that faded into the background after awhile.

He had long since given up on happiness.

Keying into his dorm room, he pushed open the door and stepped inside, tossing his jacket on the back of a chair like he always did before leaning with his back against the door, looking half-lidded at the room he had been staying in for quite a long time. He honestly didn't bother keeping track of time anymore, except for the basic day to day things he had to keep up with in order to at least keep up the guise that he was functioning. All he knew was that he refused to call it his home, and he had ceased thinking of it as his prison. It simply was his life.

The pale beams of moonlight drifted in from the only window in his dorm, which filtered out from his bedroom door that was left half-open. The rest of the dorm was shrouded in darkness, which suited Irvine just fine since he had just gotten back from a random bar and didn't particularly want the harsh fluorescent light piercing his retinas. As usual, he only had a few drinks... enough to numb his brain and make dealing with existing just that much easier. A few of the women who were regulars to the bar simply because it was known as a hangout for the glorified Galbadian SeeDs were disappointed to find out that Irvine had turned down their solicitous offers at having one (or all) of them in his bed that night, but he knew they'd get over it, or find someone else to shack up with by the end of the night that was still young. Besides, Irvine would have needed more than the drinks that he had to be able to get through a night like that.

He finally pushed himself from the door and walked over to his room. If he was lucky, he'd be asleep before his head hit the pillow. That would certainly ensure that he was in for a deep, dreamless sleep. Sleep without dreams was good.

As soon as he walked into the room, he noticed something wasn't quite right. He stood in the doorway while the training that was engrained in him for the better or for the worst took over, and scanned his surroundings with a critical eye. The shades were still open from the morning. His bed was rumpled, as always, even though he knew if Martine saw it he'd be punished for being "unnecessarily unkempt". His eyes glanced over the armoire off to the side that held all the different long-range weapons needed for his profession, and after another moment, walked over and pulled open the doors. Even though Irvine opened the closet daily, either to use one of the guns within or at the very least clean them thoroughly, it was all mechanical and he had no reason to enjoy it. Seeing that nothing was out of place, he slowly closed the doors and stepped as calmly as possible back out to the main area. He allowed his gaze to drift over the many dark corners for a moment more, and when nothing out of the ordinary happened, he almost started doubting his instincts.

He didn't think it was an enemy. Otherwise, they could have already taken advantage of him by now. It was possible that someone had been in his room before him, but thus far he didn't see anything out of place. _Dammit. I'm going to have to turn on the blasted light, after all. _Going for the nearest light switch on the wall, he reached up to flick it on...

... And at the last minute, turned and grab the arm of someone who was suddenly right behind him. The figure was slender, he could see that much, and from the slightness of the appendage he was holding, he guessed that it definitely was a female. The arm he was holding twisted in his grasp, and a hand snaked underneath his own and chopped downwards on his wrist, effectively loosening his grip. As he tried to figure out how in the hell all of that happened, two black-gloved hands shot forward and pushed him firmly, sending him toppling backwards to the wall.

Hand to hand combat was not his forte. He knew enough to get out of most situations, as did any trained SeeD, but his specialty was best utilized outside of close encounters. Already deciding that enough was enough, he reached outwards to the table on his left and circled around the emergency handgun that he always kept close by, and in less than a second he had a steady aim and a gaze of steel to the figure who was still in the shadows, but he knew exactly where she was.

_Aim and shoot, boy! _ That phrase echoed through his mind as it always did every time he picked up a firearm. Long ago, it made him tremble. Afterwards, it made him seethe with hatred. Now, it took almost everything he had to catch himself before he followed through with the mental conditioning to squeeze the trigger.

"If you shoot me, I swear to God, I'm coming back to haunt your ass."

Irvine stared, unblinking, his arm still outstretched and his aim still true... but his brain was imploding. He knew that voice. _But that's impossible._ He managed to refocus. "I don't know why you decided to play games with me tonight, but I do guarantee that if you persist, I'll make you regret it."

The figure hesitated in the darkness. "You really don't know who I am?"

_I'm afraid to know. I think I'm going crazy. _"Step into the light. Slowly. I can shoot faster than you can blink, and if I were you, I wouldn't chance calling my bluff." His voice was firm, even if his resolve was dissolving bit by bit.

The black clad figure eased slowly into the moonlight, and soon Sharon was staring at him just as hard as he was staring at her. _If he didn't speak, I would have totally thought I broke into the wrong room, after all. _"Long time no see, bitchface."

His eyes looked her over multiple times before his mind finally conceded to a part of him he thought he left behind along with everything else dealing with the brighter times of his life. _How many years has it been... _Irvine's arm lowered to his side and he stepped forward himself. "I'll be damned," He managed to get out, his head still reeling. "I'm not dreaming at all, am I?"

With him being in the light, Sharon got a closer look at the guy who effortlessly managed to drive her up the wall almost every passing moment they were in the same vicinity of each other. The face and the figure was the same, but everything else was different than the relatively carefree and surprisingly logical boy she used to torment. "What the FUCK did you do to your hair?"

Irvine blinked before he realized what she was talking about. _My brain is definitely NOT working anymore tonight. _"Oh." He ran a hand across the back of his head through his significantly shorter hairstyle. With his hair the way it currently was, he looked more like the Squall from four years ago. "I cut it."

"No shit, Sherlock. Holy hell... it's weird seeing you without that ponytail of yours."

He shrugged. "Against the rules."

Sharon pursed her lips and eyeballed him warily, already not liking how easily he conceded to get rid of something that had always been a symbol of his defiance. "What the fuck did that asshole do to you?"

Turning around then, he put the gun back on the table and sat down in a chair facing her. "Your vocabulary hasn't gotten any sweeter over the years, I see."

"Nope. There are just some parts of me I don't let go for anything." Sharon said pointedly, undeterred.

"How did you get here?"

Sharon groaned and pulled the black cap off of her head, freeing her pink and purple locks that certainly would have garnered more attention than she would have liked to encounter that night. "God, that's a long story. It was hell trying to explain it to Selphie and Zell when they asked, too." She glanced over at him to see what his reaction would be when she mentioned part of the Orphanage Gang, and was apprehensive when she didn't see any noticeable flicker of emotion. _How much did Martine hurt him?_ "I can tell you how I got in this complex, though. Pretty damn sweet of me, I'll say. Even if most of it was luck." She smirked. "First off, I remembered the back entrance we used last time to get in here when we had to fight the Ultimecia possessed Edea. Of course, it was locked... so, I just had to climb in a window. Which hurt like a bitch, but anyway. You guys have awesome directories here. Very precise."

Irvine snorted. "Naturally."

"I'm just glad you're no longer a cadet, because I guess Galbadia doesn't keep name records of who lives in what room unless they're a specialized SeeD. After that, it was a piece of cake finding out where your division was housed, and your locks are so outdated that even I could pick them... and I've only ever picked one door in my entire life, and that was Tiffany's bathroom door when she locked me in there because I pissed her off or something. GV's locks were shit. Thank god they changed to card keys, now." She stopped and looked off to the side sheepishly. "Of course, I'm leaving out all the close calls I had with patrol and random people that almost caught me on my way here, all the panic attacks I damn near had, and how it took me twice as long to pick your lock since I had to keep dodging in this storage closet nearby every time I thought I heard someone coming... but ya know. S'all good."

Irvine just let her talk, half listening while his mind unearthed all of the memories he had managed to bury under lock and key over time. His eyes glazed over, and Sharon stopped babbling long enough to notice that he was zoned out. "Alright, since you're obviously not all here right now, I'm going to cut to the chase. Time to bust you up out of this piece, son."

That caught his attention. "Excuse me?"

"We. Are. Leaving."

"Where?"

"Balamb Garden, genius."

He let out a harsh laugh. "You're kidding me."

Sharon just stared at him. "No, I'm not. I'm as serious as a heart attack."

"I'm not going back."

"Yes, you fucking are. I didn't come here to sell Girl Scout cookies."

"Then maybe it was a mistake for you to come here."

Sharon felt the frayed leash on her patience slip. "If I have to DRAG you out of here, then I will."

Irvine snapped his eyes at her angrily. "I'm not arguing with you. I am not going back there. There's no point."

"There sure as hell is a point. You're just so used to sitting up in here and licking your wounds and looking pitiful as hell that you're ignoring the fact that your place is not here, it's with your friends." She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "This is not the Irvine I know."

"Then maybe you should consider the fact that the Irvine Kinneas you once knew is dead." He said firmly, getting to his feet.

"No, he's not!" Sharon raised her voice an octave, her frustration growing. "You're just burying him because you think it's easier to get by!"

"And what do you know of it? Huh?" Irvine shot back, his voice rising as well. "Martine's influence is suffocating no matter how far you flee. It's like a taint you can't wash off of you, even if you scrub your skin raw every night. All I did was prolong what was fated to happen anyway, all my foolish years of defiance and thinking I could throw dirt right back up into his face. But you know what? Martine always gets what he wants. The smart ones realize this immediately to minimize the steps he'll take to break you. The dumb ones fight it, but they learn all the same in the end. Talking back to the Headmaster? Let's see how well you continue to do it after a few teeth are broken. Skip out on a mission you don't want to do? Don't be surprised if you find yourself blindfolded and tied up in the middle of the forest with all the lovely things that go bump in the night until you plead for mercy. Run away from home? If you don't want to be a hermit for the rest of your life, then you'd better spend it looking over your shoulder and never letting your guard down, because the moment you slip up will be the day that everything you know and love is dragged from underneath your broken fingernails. And you will live just long enough to regret ever going against him, before you simply exist to be under his command. THAT, is what it's like to be at Galbadia. Too bad it took me so long to realize it."

Silence rang over the dorm as the gravity of his words were absorbed. He stared down at her coldly as she refused to look at him, deciding instead to study the shadows off in a random corner. When several moments passed and Sharon still didn't rise to a rebuttal, the first twinge of guilt itched at him. _I didn't mean to be that harsh... I just can't afford to hope anymore... and neither can the others. They need to move on without me. This is how it is for me, now._

Sharon folded her arms and tapped her foot, finally looking Irvine up and down with her eyes and her mouth set in a frown. She took a deep breath... and reached out grabbed him forcibly by the arm and started dragging him towards the door.

"What the hell are you doing, woman?!"

"I told you if I had to drag you out of here, then I would." She paused, and pulled an about face, tugging him along behind her. "What am I thinking; we can't just walk out of the front door. I hope you can fit your ass out of a window."

Irvine dug his heels in and gaped at her incredulously. "No!"

"Oh, shut up. You're skinny enough. Just remember to tuck and roll."

_Hyne, she's still every bit as insane as she was back then. _He yanked his arm free, and shortly thereafter, Sharon sucked her teeth and reached for it again, gaining a hold on his wrist. He pulled again, and this time she held fast, her feet spreading into a horse stance she learned from Tai Chi. "I learned martial arts, bitch." She flaunted with a smirk. "And while I might not be epic enough to fly in a crowded area and kick everyone's ass, I can assure you that I will be as immovable as a rock." She stared sternly at him over the rims of her glasses. "Now, are you going to come along like a good boy, or am I going to have to knock you unconscious?"

Irvine narrowed his eyes as he felt his blood boil. He'd forgotten just how insolent and stubborn she could be as well, and in this particular circumstance, it was right pissing him off. Did she not listen to a word he said about his situation? "Since when have I ever been the token good boy?"

She raised a mocking eyebrow. "I dunno. I heard something just a few minutes ago about some 'waah waah, I'm Martine's bitch'. That doesn't count?"

Now he actually WAS pissed. "How long have you studied martial arts?"

"For about two years now." She tilted her head to one side curiously. "Why?"

"Because you're going to need all of those skills in about three seconds."

What occurred next was a flash scuffle in the center of the room. Irvine was definitely stronger than Sharon, and what he made up for lack of skill he had in height and force. However, Sharon was faster and was very good at yielding or dodging. Every grab he made, she eventually slipped out of. He was personally surprised at how well she focused her attention to a pinpoint on the fly, reacting on instinct for the most part. The miniature battle was almost comical the way it jerkily played out between the two, and neither of them really knew what they were doing from one moment to the next. Eventually, Sharon deflected one particularly strong strike but lost her footing, and Irvine capitalized on the opportunity by following it up with a shoulder check that sent her stumbling backwards until her back hit the opposite wall.

And Sharon was just getting ready to retaliate with a swing of her own when the arm she was using got pinned above her head, and Irvine's lips crushed down on her own.

It was just like all the other times they had found themselves in similar situations in the past, whether it be at the bottom of a snowy gorge or a freshman dorm room, but Sharon didn't know if it was because she honestly pissed him off way more than she originally intended or what, but she could swear she felt her toes curl without her sending the signals needed to do it of her own volition. Just like that, all of the feelings that she had packed away had sprung free like it exploded from within, and she couldn't repress a small moan as his tongue slipped past her lips. _Yep, he's definitely been practicing for awhile. _Eventually, he broke the kiss and moved to her right ear. "Works every time."

Even though her heart was beating ridiculously against her rib cage, Sharon's eye still twitched at the audacity at that remark. "That's cheating, and you're an asshole." She breathed out, trying to work up some of the energy she had before to get herself out of the very compromising situation.

"Hmmm..." He moved his lips down to a spot on her neck and smiled as she seemed to tense and shiver at the same time. "All's fair in love and war."

"I have a boyfriend now, you dickhead!" Sharon protested, then squeaked as he started sucking on her pulse point. Almost on impulse, her free hand found its way to his hair, and she found herself hating her hormones at the same time hating Martine for making Irvine cut his ponytail off, because it would have been a great thing for her fingers to toy with while he went to work. "This is adultery, or something!"

Irvine shrugged and pressed his body to hers snugly. "He's not here right now, is he? Besides, if you want to get technical..." He smirked at her panicked expression that said that she already knew what he was going to say. "You were my girl first. We never actually broke up, you just left. So shouldn't I be the one upset?"

Sharon wanted to at least sputter indignantly, but her brain was melting at the sensory overload of the extreme proximity between them. "You can't possibly still think you're in love with me." She winced when he leaned back and looked her dead in the eye, and she already knew the answer to that. She sighed and slumped in defeat, knowing that it wasn't the time to get into THAT mile-long discussion. "I came here just to break your ass out of this jail, you know."

His gaze was unwavering. "Is that the only reason?"

She pursed her lips together and stayed silent.

Irvine sighed and released her, and Sharon had to physically stop her body from being magnetically pulled towards him again. "So, are we busting this joint or not?" She asked, her mind beginning to clear from the haze that threatened to cloud over every rational thought.

The sharpshooter put a finger to his chin and looked up for a moment, then darted his blue eyes back down at her with a glint in his eyes. "I could be persuaded."

"Ugh, HOW?" Sharon blurted, and immediately regretted it when she saw the mischievous glint brighten. _ I think I just got myself into some shit right the fuck now._

"Let me see... I remember, once upon a time, that you accused me of following you everywhere. I think there was one place on that list I missed."


	25. Chapter 24

**A/N: **I figure I should continue writing this story before I forget all of my English. It's already starting to happen. D: Oh, gawd. I'd better pass this damn Chinese test in June.

As always, thanks for being patient. I love you guys just about as much as I love my story, seriously. I want to know the conclusion of this story just as much as the rest of you do! Cause, uh... I haven't um... actually planned it all out, so every chapter is just about as much of a surprise for me as it is for you guys. :D...

SO YEAH STORY

* * *

Squall's blue eyes followed Gina's worried movements from one end of Cid's office to the next, his arms crossed and his face impassive as he leaned against one of the walls. Selphie and Zell had opted to take a seat in front of the Headmaster's desk, and Cid himself was relatively relaxed in his own chair, his gaze thoughtful and distant. Outside of the borderline frantic pacing that Gina was doing, and a faint squeak of Cid's armchair when he absent-mindedly rocked back ever so slightly, there wasn't much movement. Even Zell was lost in his own thoughts enough to not do his usual habit of jumping in place and practicing random martial arts moves. The scene had remained the same ever since Gina's announcement, and nobody knew what they could do but just wait it out. Which they had all been doing for what seemed like hours, even though nobody really bothered to check.

The commander didn't know what to think about the current situation anymore. His first idea was to formulate the most thorough lecture that would blatantly tell Sharon exactly what he thought of her heroics when - or if - Hyne showed some mercy and allowed her to return. After which he would brace himself for the indignant and probably pissed off barrage of words that would definitely be flung at him as a result, while hoping that whatever came forth from her lips wouldn't hit any button in him that would result in him attempting to kill her in an incredulous rage. Squall was known to have a cool head in just about any situation, and rarely did he ever lose his temper. But Sharon DID have a way with words... or maybe it was just a gift to be able to tick off even the most docile human being if given enough time and ammo. He hadn't quite decided on which one it was, let alone if it was a good trait or not.

Squall supposed that it was the protective streak in him that he almost wasn't completely settled with, yet. If he didn't care about Sharon, then he wouldn't be affected so much by her actions to even begin to contemplate saying or doing anything about it. _It's all a part of those emotions I had locked away from myself for so long... or at least, had gotten damn good at ignoring them over the years. _It was natural to be indifferent, but ever since the events that transpired 4 years ago, Squall felt like he had done an odd combination of growing up and becoming young all over again, all at the same time. Even as he was now, he knew he was a lot better than what he used to be before his world turned upside down... but he hadn't exactly settled into his skin yet, either. For a long time, he had thought that he was making progress with it by dating Rinoa, because he had been advised and had heard that the best way to know yourself is through the eyes of another.

_And I couldn't even do THAT right, in the end. And now, with everything we could be facing in the very near future... _He didn't want to think about it. It made him antsy, and he did not like feeling that way. _Since when did I like feeling anything at all? Hyne, no wonder I never get anywhere with myself; I keep going back and forth on everything. _He took a deep breath and tried to settle himself back down to the mask of calm he had done well to construct around him... but as long as Gina kept up that damned pacing, Squall was sure he'd eventually go nuts. Pushing himself away from the wall, he felt everyone's eyes on him as he walked over and cut off Gina in mid-stride during what had to be her 82394734th circuit around the room. She jumped and looked up in confusion at the person who was interrupting the nervous movements she hadn't entirely been aware she'd been doing for a very long while. "Eh?"

"Gina. If you don't stop pacing, then there won't be a floor in here anymore. Why don't you take a seat?" Squall advised as gently as possible, highly aware of the waves of worry and discontent that seemed to be pouring off of Gina's frame. He felt irritation rise from within him, and it confused him for a second until he realized that it was because he couldn't do anything to help her calm down.

The shy and observant girl flinched and looked down, knowing that she was probably annoying the hell out of everyone in the room with her twitchiness. "I-I'm sorry. I'm just really worried about Sharii-chan... and Irvine now, too. All the worst case scenarios are going around in my head, and the only way I keep them away is if I pace. Which... is what I've been doing all this time, so... argh... you're right, I should probably try to sit down, or something..." Gina nervously moved her red and black braids off of a shoulder and scooted over towards the other empty seat in front of Cid's desk, and plopped in it heavily, assuming a relatively relaxed position.

Cid, Selphie, and Zell went back to their own worlds now that there was no longer anything new to observe in their surroundings, and Squall resumed his position on the wall.

Squeak. Squeak. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Squall narrowed his eyes and sighed through his nose. Now, Gina had taken to lightly touching her shoe in a rhythmatic pattern against the leg of the chair she was sitting in. Everyone else seemed as oblivious to this as they were before to Gina's pacing, but HE couldn't do that so easily. In fact, now Squall was remembering the time he had gotten stupidly drunk back at Grand Valley, and Gina kept watch over him like a hawk for most of the night. She had been overly worried and nervous about his condition, which he wouldn't and couldn't blame her for, considering... but she HAD taken up tapping her fingers on her legs for awhile.

_Sharon had better return, now. Maybe I won't even go through with the lecture, just as long as she saves me from madness._

Just as he thought he was on the edge of no return, everyone jumped when they heard a shout coming from outside the doors of the office.

"I don't CARE IF THE HEADMASTER IS 'CURRENTLY IN A MEETING', YOU LET ME THROUGH RIGHT THE FUCK NOW, OR I'M GOING TO TAKE IT OUT OF YOUR ASS EIGHT WAYS PAST SUNDAY!! I YELL THE LOUDEST, SO THEREFORE I WIN. OPEN THE DAMN DOOR."

"SHARII-CHAN!" Despite Squall being the closest to the door, Gina moved faster than he thought was possible and whipped open the door with a smile of relief and happiness on her face. "YOU'RE BACK!!"

As soon as Sharon took a step over the threshold, Gina enveloped her in a glomp that made it clear she wasn't planning on letting go for at least a couple of decades. Sharon rocked on her feet and let out a surprised and whole-hearted laugh that echoed through the circular frame of the office, and managed to get enough movement in to return the hug through the death-grip her best friend had on her midsection. "Dude, you got my note, right? I said I'd be back. You know how I roll, boo."

Zell let out a grin like he had known all along that Sharon would make it back in one piece, and Selphie slumped in relief in her chair, a smile on her face as she melodramatically placed the back of her hand to her forehead in a faint. Cid just shook his head in a mixture of amusement in awe... and poor Squall snapped.

"You 'roll' ridiculously, haphazardly, and irresponsibly, and it's a miracle you didn't crash and burn pulling a crazy stunt like that." Squall started before he even realized it, and everyone looked at him with a wide eyed look on their faces. "Gladden, as your commanding officer, it is my duty to inform you of the impact your actions could have had on our mission, including but definitely NOT limited to the endangerment of your life, and in the forfeit of-"

"Easy there, commander." A voice drawled from the doorway, and Irvine Kinneas stepped inside a moment later, almost as if it was as natural as breathing for him to walk into the office belonging to the headmaster of Balamb Garden like it was his own personal runway. "It's a bit unprofessional to berate an officer when everyone can hear, don't you think?" He smoothly closed the door behind him, and then looked over to Squall with a sideways grin. "Besides, she can't take the blame for everything all of the time. You can put this one on me."

Squall felt his mouth snap closed and his brain completely derail from whatever else he was going to tack onto the fantastically wordy, official sounding tirade he launched into just seconds prior. _ I can't believe it... she actually did it._

Sharon frowned in surprise at Squall's silence and nodded appreciatively. "Not bad. I was bracing for something like that when I got back here. You saved my ass."

Irvine shrugged good naturedly and leaned against the door, the familiar brown trench coat draping around his legs as he did so. "You saved mine, so it's the least I could do." Smirking wickedly as his eyes drifted downwards, he added, "Besides, that ass of yours is definitely worth saving."

Squall felt the urge to facepalm tugging lazily at his reflexes, a sign that he had not forgotten how well comments like that went over in the past. On cue, Sharon pulled away from Gina and whirled on him, pointing an angry finger at his face. "You lecherous... I can't believe you just said that! Get your freakin' mind out of the gutter for once in your life!"

"This... is so AWESOME!" Zell jumped up from his seat, his energy returning to him in full force. "We got our bickering pseudo-couple back! NOW we're ready to roll!"

This time, Squall actually went through with the facepalming. However, he couldn't deny the wave of relief he felt at having another piece of the group back together again... and even though they had yet to be complete, it lifted a ton off of his chest that he wasn't even entirely aware that had been weighing him down. He felt lightheaded and as close to giddy as he could ever get, and offhandedly wondered if that is what it feels like to be on drugs. The entire day was unfolding into the wildest emotional rollercoaster, and for someone like Squall who avoids those types of thrill rides with a vengeance, he honestly didn't know how much he could take. _And the worst part about all this is that I know this is far from being over._

Cid let out a small chuckle as he got to his feet behind his desk. "Well, Mr. Kinneas. It's been awhile since I've seen you on our soil. I hope you'll forgive the lack of streamers and cake; this is as much of a surprise party for you as it is for us."

Irvine walked forward to the desk, removing the cowboy hat from his head as he did so in respect for the person standing in front of him. "No, forgive ME, Headmaster, for taking so long to get back to you. If it wasn't for Sharon, I don't think I would have ever have had the privilege to be in your office right now. I lost track of all the things that I had learned all those years ago, and as such, almost lost who I was. I needed a swift kick in the rear for me to get my TRUE priorities straight, and you knew the right person to send to get that mission done. For that alone, I'll be forever in your debt."

The Headmaster of Balamb Garden blinked in surprise at Irvine's speech, and burst out into laughter. The Galbadian cowboy looked on in confusion until Cid was able to get a hold of himself again. "Did I miss something here?" He questioned tentatively.

"Oh, not much, my boy... just the fact that I had nothing to do with you being here in front of me." Cid snorted a few more restrained chuckles as he watched Irvine's face go from bewilderment to astonished realization. "At any rate... I'm assuming I'll be avoiding any calls from Headmaster Martine in the near future?"  
Irvine turned his head and looked back at Sharon, but before anything could leave his lips, he was met by a surprisingly strong punch to the stomach. Having the air knocked out of him and catching him totally off guard, he wheezed and doubled over, looking over at his aggressor. "Selph, what the hell..."

"THAT'S for worrying both me and Yaten up the wall all this time, silly!" Selphie retorted, her short frame standing over him as he tried to catch his breath. "And what the heck did you do to your hair?!?"

"Are you and Sharon of the same breed, or something?" Irvine straightened up slowly and winced for a bit, rubbing his abdomen. "I'm happy to see you too, Selphie Bear." Before he could get any further, he was glomped by the girl in yellow and had to stagger to keep his balance. "Man... has it really been that long that I get a welcome like this?"

"It's been... interesting, to say the least." Squall spoke up. "We have a new problem, but we suspect that it's somehow connected to everything troublesome that has been festering for so long around us. It also seems as though our next destination will be the Centra Ruins."

"Uh, what?" Sharon blinked. "Why? Isn't it dangerous as hell over there?"

Gina looked up at her. "It is, but Odine caught Rinoa's energy patterns from that area, and we have to go over there to check it out. Zell and Selphie also have a theory that Rinoa is using her Sorceress powers to negatively influence the behavioral traits of SeeDs. We can't actually prove it, but either way things are tying together pretty weird."

"Whoa, whoa... did I hear correctly?" Irvine gaped over at Squall, then flicked his glance over at Gina. "Your NEW girlfriend's a sorceress? Is this some sort of trend you're starting?"

The commander just stood to the side in the room, his face turning slightly pink while Zell did his best to muffle his snickers, especially when Squall's gaze flicked dangerously over at him. "It's complicated." He replied, turning his attention back to Irvine. "And I'm assuming that you need to be filled in on quite a bit that's happened in your absence."

"You're telling me..." Irvine looked around, noticing something out of place. "Hey, where's Quisty?"

The lighthearted mood that had settled over the group immediately dispersed, and the silence that greeted him worried him greatly. "Hyne, this is going to be bad, isn't it?"

"Yeah... kind of." Sharon sighed. "But first things first, what about this whole Centra Ruins field trip? Has it been decided on what time all of this is going to happen?"

"Well... you're not going to like it very much, Sharii-chan... but we were thinking we should leave now-ish." Gina said. "It's late, but something is telling me that we need to get moving as soon as possible. Not to mention, we want to do this as undercover as possible, and I'm not sure if waiting until daybreak is the best choice."

The colorful haired girl whined a couple of incoherent sentences before slouching her shoulders in defeat. "I guess it's too much to ask for a break around here, isn't it?"

Squall raised a cynical eyebrow. "We had our break. You just used yours to go do something completely asinine."

"That resulted in something GOOD for the group, geez! Gimme a break, Squall!" She pouted slightly, her eyes still showing a hint of annoyance.

"Good for the group, or good for you, I wonder?"

This time, it was Sharon's turn to gape her mouth open and closed like a fish at Squall, who now faced Cid and was doing a good job of ignoring Zell's "oooohhh, owwwnnnedd" catcalls and Selphie's devilishly appalled and completely overdone expressions. "By your leave, sir?"

The Headmaster nodded his assent. "Stay safe, all of you... and stay together. I don't know what, if anything, awaits you at your destination, but I refuse to have another disappearing act on my hands. I really won't have any other resources on hand to rescue you all from anything else."

Sharon got over her embarrassment enough to raise her hand. "Not exactly! If anything happens to all of us this time around, then I know a couple of girls that might be insane enough to come drag our asses back. We left them at Grand Valley, but Xu knows what they look like."

Cid shook his head in disbelief. "Is your university overflowing with people unknowingly full of the tenacity to endure otherworldly situations such as these?"

"No. But you can bet all your gil that the ones who are heavily associated with me and G-fuu will be."

Selphie hopped to her feet. "Alright, guys! Let's get this show on the road! We can fill Irvy in on all of the details on the way there."

As the newly formed group filed out of the office, Squall stopped Irvine by placing a hand on his shoulder and giving it a pat. "It's good to have you back, sharpshooter." He said truthfully, and after a moment's hesitation, actually initiated an awkward hug that Irvine was completely shocked to receive from Squall of all people. He knew better than to ask what drove him to do that, but was honored nonetheless. _I guess they never would have completely gotten over me as I thought they would have if I had stayed at Galbadia. _He followed everyone out and down the elevator, falling behind every so often on their trek through Balamb Garden as he looked around and soaked in details that he used to think he'd never be allowed to see again.

"So... how does it feel to be back in the action-packed group again?" Gina startled him with the question and her presence. He'd thought she'd be with the rest of the group up ahead. The cowboy lapsed in thought for a while before responding, his gaze distant.

"... surreal, to be honest. A part of me is wondering if I'm dreaming all of this. It might sound silly to you, but... I didn't expect to be here again. I didn't expect to see the gang again, either. And I definitely didn't expect to see you and Sharon ever again. I'm waiting to wake up and face the cruelty of reality that I was subjected to every day I remained at Galbadia."

Gina shook her head, an understanding smile on her face. "Yeah... I figured. It's easy to feel powerless in such a situation. Something so strong that it almost caused you to give up on everything that you lived for... that's pretty frightening. It seems to have shaped a large part of the person you are today, unless I'm being pretentious and not on the mark at all."

"No, no... you're right." Irvine reassured her as they stepped out of one of Balamb's gates, on their way to where the Ragnarok was cloaked and docked. "It's a part of my life I try to avoid at all costs... which might be why it came back to bite me in the ass years later. I finally think I might be on my way to accepting it, though... and when I do, all you guys will be ones I tell my story to."

Gina nodded and gave him a grin, and they walked up the ramp to the Ragnarok together, noting Selphie's faint squeal as she rushed ahead to make it to the cockpit, most probably excited about having the chance to pilot the massive ship again. Zell, Squall, and Sharon filtered in after her, but before he got to the door himself, Irvine paused.

"Hey, Gina?"

"Hmm?" She turned around and addressed him, one eyebrow raised curiously.

"Do you think I'm a fool?"

Gina just blinked and looked at him as he stared off into the distance, his blue eyes clouded. "What do you mean?"

He let out a large breath. "For falling for the last person I expected to fall for." Taking the black cowboy hat off of his cropped locks, he fingered the line of tiny sea shells that were still in place along the top. "It's been four years... and we're still playing the same game."

"Sharii-chan makes you happy, right?"

Irvine snorted, and a slight smile appeared on his face. "She makes me feel every single emotion on the face of this planet... all at the exact same time. It's either insanity or love." He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "You're the most insightful person of the group; I figure you'd be the best person to tell me which one it is."

"Love IS insanity, at its very best. But without it, we wouldn't be alive." Gina shrugged and leaned up against one of the walls. "Sharii-chan is good at expressing her surface emotions, such as annoyance or silly humor. But it takes her a long time to get out the deeper emotions that are closer to her core. All I can really say is that the little 'game' that you guys play with each other is really cute... and reveals a lot more than what's on the surface. She's not just going to come out and say how she feels... at least not consciously unless she feels 100% safe. And when she finally does you'll have to keep her from bolting afterwards. It IS a game to figure out how Sharii works... but I think you're up to it. You're closer than you think, I'll tell you that right now."

Irvine sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair. "Women are frustrating creatures. But I swear Sharon's on a whole nother level."

Gina let out a laugh at that one. "Sharii-chan is... Sharii-chan. We all love her for it. Besides, it's not so hard as it seems."

He raised an eyebrow and winked. "Of course you'd say that, Gina. You got stuck with the most complicated man."

Gina felt her cheeks flush. "I don't know what you mean by that."

This time, Irvine laughed. "And Sharon plays dumb much smoother than you do. If Sharon and I are obvious, then you and Squall must have permanent neon flashing signs on your foreheads at all times. You know, I tried pointing it out to him awhile ago that he wasn't completely over you. It didn't go bad, but it didn't go well, either. This was when Rinoa came back into the picture and was obviously interested in him, and he came to me for advice about whether or not he should pursue it. I told him that it might do him some good, since Rinoa's a nice girl and would hopefully force him to get back in touch with himself. I don't know how well that turned out, since I wasn't here to see the romance really unfold... but I will say that if I had known that you would show back up again, I'd have told him something completely different."

Gina just nodded, not really knowing what to say. She didn't know where she and Squall stood, and for as much difficulty there was between Irvine and Sharon, there were more unanswered questions and unfinished situations between her and Squall. _And it's going to be up to him to make the decision. That's not something I can do for him. But I'll stand by him, whatever decision it will come to._

The door to the cockpit slid open, and Sharon came out, her arms folded. "If you guys don't get in there and get buckled in, Selphie's going to kill you." She looked between Irvine and Gina. "What's up?"

Irvine grinned and closed the distance between them with long strides, and noted the sharp intake of breath and how her eyes widened as he paused an inch away from her. "Wouldn't you like to know?" He then kissed her on the lips slowly and lightly, and continued on his way into the cockpit. Sharon was left leaning against the doorway, and turned a panicked gaze to her best friend. "Is he up to something?!" She whispered frantically.

Gina bit the inside of her mouth to hide a smile and shrugged. "Maybe."

"I think Martine knocked a few more marbles loose in his brain, or something. He hasn't been normal since I got him back. You think I have a right to be worried?" She cast a glance into the room, watching him buckle in.

"Eh, don't be worried." Gina gave her friend a hug. "But I would be on the lookout."

"Ah, great..."

"GUYSSSS!!" Selphie whined from the driver's seat. "SIT DOWN ALREADY!!"

"Well, let's see where the rest of this crazy adventure takes us." Sharon and Gina scuffled into the cockpit and got situated in their seats, and as soon as she heard the tale-tell click of the safety belts, the low and powerful hum of the Ragnarok filled the cabin. In what was quickly approaching the dead of night, six SeeDs departed through the skies to the Centra continent.


	26. Chapter 25

**A/N:** This is THE longest chapter I have ever written in my history of story writing. But I love it. Read on, plz.

Oh, and you might want to brace yourself. :) That is all.

* * *

"This entire place trips me the hell out... but it's so incredibly awesome at the exact same time." Sharon noted, looking about her with wonder evident on her facial features. The Ragnarok was parked just outside the entrance to the Centra Ruins, where the group had just walked into. In the light of the near-full moon, the mostly destroyed hub of civilization for nomadic Centra people looked eerily ethereal. It could be assumed that the area in which they all now stood used to be an expansive and elaborate courtyard, judging by the half destroyed marble pillars and graceful statues that were smashed and lying in pieces here and there. There were overgrown plants everywhere, ranging from the most basic of bushes to beautiful flowers snaking around the ravaged earth. There didn't seem to be much of a path to follow, but nonetheless they knew what they had come there to find.

"So... what's the deal with this place again?" Zell asked, scratching his head and adding more haphazard spikes to his hairstyle as he did so. "I don't remember much about it from class, except the fact that the Tonberry live here."

Sharon's eyes got bright as she turned around to face him, a giddy smile on her face. "TONBERRY??"

"Part of the old civilization lived here before us... or at least, this is believed to be one of their main bases." Squall stared up at the triangle-esque looking tower in the near distance, the only structure left mostly intact in the entire place. "All the technology that currently makes Esthar what it is, is based off of the remnants the Centra's innovations. It's also the reason why all of the Gardens can be transformed into mobile bases; the Centra were wanderers, and as such it was important to have a home they could easily transport."

"I forgot all about that..." Selphie placed a finger to her chin as she tilted her head to the side. "But then again, it has been quite awhile since I've had to attend classes. That's one good thing about being a SeeD; once you graduate from your cadet status, the only tests you have are based on whether or not you did your mission right."

Sharon continued to grin. "TONBERRY??"

"This place is interesting, though." Irvine walked over to one of the nearby pillars and took a closer look at a chip in the side. "A part of me is nostalgic, since Matron's orphanage follows the same design as a lot of the architecture I'm seeing. It's just that it feels really foreign standing on this spot for some reason... and hey, look at this! There looks to be circuitry running through some of this stuff! I wonder if it's still functional... or what it used to do. History books never were really good at explaining all of the stuff you REALLY wanted to know."

Gina frowned in thought. "Hard to say. Although if I remember correctly, this continent was destroyed by the very first Lunar Cry. If you can imagine a bit, this actually looks like a smaller version of Tears Point. I could garner a guess as to say that since Lunatic Pandora is the main catalyst to summoning the monsters from the Moon, that the Centra constructed this place to attempt to null the effect of the crystal, or something."

Zell snorted sarcastically. "Yeah, that totally worked. Did wonders for the decor."

"TONBERRY???"

Squall finally turned his attention to Sharon with a strange look on his face. "WHY do you keep saying that?"

Gina smiled sheepishly and answered for her best friend. "Well... she likes Tonberry. She thinks they're cute."

Stunned silence washed over the group as they all turned horrified expressions towards the girl with the pink and purple hair, who was still completely unfazed by their reactions and clasped her hands in front of her like a 4 year old excited and hopeful child. "Do you think I can catch one?"

Irvine backed up a step. "Hell no, man, those things are dangerous! I heard they can kill you in one hit. I was advised that if I ever saw one, to shoot it before it moved."

Sharon's mouth dropped open. "WHAT? You'd KILL the poor thing?? All it wants is to be loved!"

"And you're insane. I don't mean it in a good way, this time."

"And YOU'RE heartless. Something that cute can't be evil. At least, not ALL evil. Just don't provoke it, or anything. Bet you all didn't try THAT approach!"

More silence awaited her, and when it was made painfully obvious that she would find no support outside of Gina's neutrality on the entire subject, she sucked her teeth in exasperation and turned and walked in a random direction.

"Hey, where the hell are you going?!" Zell shouted after her, utterly confused.

"I'm finding one. I'm going prove to you all how cute and innocent they really are."

Squall stormed after her and grabbed her roughly by the arm, and ignored her squeaks and protests as he dragged her back from wherever she thought she was going. "Irvine and Gina, this is an order. Keep her by your side at all times. If you see a Tonberry, eliminate it on sight. Outside of you two, the rest of us don't have long-range weapons, and getting up close and personal with those creatures is not what we're here to do. We'll try to move as quickly but as carefully as possible, and keep your eyes out for anything potentially dangerous as well as something useful to our mission. Now, we move out."

And so, the group of them began their trek through the ancient ruins, keeping their eyes out for anything out of the ordinary.

Within a relatively short amount of time, all of them discovered the same thing; there WERE no monsters. Anywhere. And that made all of them even more uneasy than it should have, considering that it made their journey far less hazardous to their health. Squall expected there to be at LEAST a Forbidden or a Bomb jumping out from the many ill-lit corners that dotted the ruins, and with each corner that they turned, he was bracing himself for a surprise attack that never came. _Something isn't right._

"So... uh... is it always this quiet here?" Selphie finally spoke up.

"No. It shouldn't be." Squall replied, his crystal blue eyes sharp as he continuously scanned and re-scanned the area they were traipsing through. "... I don't like this."  
"Me neither. This is kind of fucked up." Sharon agreed, frowning. "While I'm half-relieved that I won't be seeing any Tonberry slaughters, whenever this shit happens in movies, it's usually a bad sign..." Her brown eyes got wide from behind her glasses. "Son of a bitch! Do you think we were set up?"

"By Odine? Why?" Zell questioned, then thought about it. "Well, he IS kind of a mad scientist. Maybe this is one big experiment, or something?"

Gina furrowed her brows together. "It's possible... but I really can't say for sure one way or the other. We could just turn around and leave if we think it's a trap. I'm not sure what we could do with what limited resources we have on hand, but maybe there's more we haven't looked into that might uncover more things for us to go on."

"This might be one of those 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' situations." Irvine said. "I mean, we're already here. We're sort of helpless sitting around back at Garden, and I think you all have tried your best on every other front you could have. The only thing we haven't done is to go up into that pyramid looking thing up ahead... and I have a feeling that it's going to be special, because all ominous, slightly out of place structures such as those tend to follow in the same footsteps." Shrugging, he folded his arms and looked at Squall. "It's your call, though."

Squall immediately had an uncomfortable dose of déjà, stuck being the leader of the group that were his teammates as well as his best friends, and at the crossroads of an important decision that everyone expected him to make for them. _Choices: When you know you're screwed either way. _The jittery feeling in his abdomen that he had been successful in ignoring up until that point threatened to overwhelm him then, and he swallowed firmly.

"Let's keep going." _And hope to Hyne I don't regret making that decision, later._

The path that they had been trying to weed out eventually got easier to follow, and widened considerably until they approached the structure that dominated over everything else. In stark contrast to the white stone and Roman design they had been seeing, the beige masterpiece that awaited them now looked more alien than anything they had ever seen. Strange poles and wires seemed to jut out of the sides, their purpose lost along with the Centra. The diamond wire frame that encased the tower looked as though it would fall apart if a small wind blew, but obviously the people who constructed it knew what they were doing if it had survived the onslaught of the very first Lunar Cry while everything else on the entire continent didn't.

"This is an engineer's nightmare." Sharon stared at the foundation of the building, which seemed to rest on a single point about the size of her hand. "Someone totally tell me that this is physically impossible."

Zell cracked his knuckles before kneading a shoulder. "Eh, I don't ask questions, anymore. It's either that I won't like the answer, or there won't be one. Let's just get this over with. I don't know why, but I'm getting tense as hell the more time we spend in this place. It's giving me the creeps way more than Ultimecia's castle, and I can't put my finger on it."

_You're not the only one. _Squall started up the stairs that only allowed for single file entrance, and stood in the center of the plain hallway that curved around the circumference of the building. He waited for everyone to catch up, and picked a direction and started walking. The layout was ridiculously simple; it seemed as though whichever way he chose, there was only one destination. No doors were on either side of the hallway, and even though he couldn't be certain, they seemed to be on a steady incline. The evenly spaced windows, some with panes still intact while others had been broken through, allowed the only source of light that dimly illuminated their path. It wasn't much, however, since everyone was resorting to squinting and reaching out to touch a wall to make sure they didn't trip over nothing.

He would never admit it, but the further Squall went, the more he wanted to turn around and run. His instincts were screaming at him, the fine hairs on the back of his neck were standing up so straight he thought they would detach from his skin of their own will, and his mind was in league with his overactive nerves. The echo of everyone's footsteps made him think a couple of times that there was someone else tailing them, and it took all of his self control not to turn around and check. His breathing was too loud the next, even though it felt as if his chest was constricting too much for him to take more than a shallow breath at a time. It was ludicrous, and his rational mind knew it... but it wasn't enough to calm him down. The only thing keeping the commander going was the fact that he was leading the group, and SOMEONE needed to pretend they were perfectly fine walking into what was possibly an alien structure for god knew what.

"Hey, there's an archway up ahead!" Selphie whispered, but her voice still managed to carry and startle everyone temporarily until they looked ahead and saw that she was correct. _It seems like forever since we've started... but has that much time really passed at all? _The simple archway broke the continuity that greeted them all, and was the end of the monotonous journey. Squall paused for a millisecond before placing his feet over the threshold, not really knowing why he did. _What in the world..._

"Dude... I totally saw something like this in Mortal Kombat, or something." Sharon said, referencing an old and corny movie from the early 90s that still managed to entertain her from time to time. "What the fuck."

They were all standing on faded indigo carpeting, obviously weathered and suffering from disuse, lined with beige and stamped with an unidentifiable crest that vaguely resembled the designs that served as the logo for SeeD but were in no way decipherable one way or the other. To the right and the left of them were coils and coils of multicolored heavy-duty wiring that snaked underneath their feet. The room was much better illuminated than any other area they had come to thus far, with mysteriously lit sconces lining the circular hall and casting an orangey glow to everything. The moon was high in the cloudless sky, and dust particles could be seen flittering through the moonbeams that shone through the majorly intact stained glass windows situated high near the ceiling. No one could make out exactly what the designs in the panes were trying to portray, but it seemed to be humanoid in nature.

But by far the most imposing ornament in the room was the incredibly large throne that completely dominated the scenario. Its onyx and obviously gothic inspired design was made out of sharp angles until the top of the back that rounded out to a circular, crescent moon point. It also looked to be floating at first glance, but under closer inspection, it was balancing impossibly on a triangle point just like the structure that housed it.

"I think all of us can sit in that chair and have enough wiggle room." Selphie said, chewing on her bottom lip. "I'm not trying it, though!"

Gina occupied her time looking wide eyed at everything and holding her breath while pulling at the frayed remains of her fingernail cuticles. "So... this is strange... and nothing is here." _So... can we go home, now?_

Everyone stood uncertainly in the same spot, afraid to really venture forward.

"Hi!" A perky voice suddenly sounded, and a head to go with it peeked from behind one massive side of the throne. Sharon just about dropped her weapon and bolted without looking back, and she was relieved to see that everyone jolted in a similar manner. _Or, just about everybody._

"Rinoa." Squall's voice sounded foreign to his own ears, fighting the sudden accumulation of sandpaper on his tongue. "What are you doing here?" He hoped he looked as calm as he was trying to sound, because on the inside a cacophony of emotions barraged against his ribs at the sight of his ex-girlfriend. In some ways, it had been easier for Squall to try and sort out how he felt when he learned that she was missing... but having her in front of him again confused him more than how he started.

She tilted her head coyly to the side as she stepped out completely. "Hmm... shouldn't I be asking you that? Just like you, Squall, to spoil things." Her voice was perky and casual, and she walked forward slowly as if she was strolling through a park, her hands clasped behind her back. Her raven colored hair framed her face exactly the way it had 4 years ago, with the streaks of sandy gold highlighting the front sides and making up most of her bangs. Rinoa's face was petite and heart-shaped, but it was obvious that it had grown from being cute into something like the epitome of feminine beauty. Her pale skin highlighted her darker features and stood out like alabaster from her favorite periwinkle duster. Gina tried her damnest not to let insecurity make more of a mess of her mind than the state it was already in, but it was hard not to stand there and see with her own eyes why Rinoa and Squall were seen back in her own world as an OTP.

"What do you mean?" Squall asked softly.

Rinoa giggled for a bit and winked at him before pursing her lips cutely and pointing a single finger up, a perfect duplication of the night of the ball when she and Squall first met.

Irvine shivered as he silently watched her, but leaving the negotiations to Squall. Rinoa looked normal, and for all intensive purposes was behaving normally. _ I hope Squall plays his cards right._

"So... how'd ya get out?" Rinoa asked, rounding the right hand side of the throne before pausing. "Off the base, I mean. I thought I'd done everything so well..."

"YOU put us in the base?" Selphie blurted out. "How come we don't remember that?"

Rinoa looked at her. "Because I didn't want you to."

The simplicity of the reply was laced with an undercurrent that matched the unblinking gaze of the dark haired woman, and stagnated in the air before she sighed and hopped up on the edge of the seat, slouching her elbows on her knees in the perfect picture of adolescent disappointment as she hung her head. "Oh, now it's all ruined!"

"What's ruined?" Squall questioned, already gauging that not all was what it seemed.

"The SURPRISE, silly!" Rinoa replied exasperatedly. "I kept you safe while I was preparing it. That's why you were in the base. I didn't want you getting curious and being all nosy. I even let your friends stay with you so you wouldn't be lonely." She wrinkled her nose and slid her eyes over to Irvine. "But I missed him. He wasn't with you when you were snooping around, trying to do the one thing that I didn't want you finding out until it was all finished."

Squall nodded. "I know... but..." He paused, not knowing how to continue.

She tilted her head again. "Hmm?"

"It was really nice for you to go through all of that trouble just for me, really." Squall started carefully. "And I'm sorry I ruined the surprise. But the truth is, I was worried about you."

"It's okay." Rinoa waved it off casually. "It's almost done, anyway, so- .. huh? Worried?"

He nodded again, keeping his overall movements to a minimum. "We had a fight the last time we saw each other, and I hadn't seen you since."

"Oh yeah, we did, didn't we?" Rinoa tapped a finger to her chin, genuinely searching her mind for the instance. "You and I both know that we do that all the time. Fight. But it usually ended up in great make-up sex!" She giggled, a faint blush rising to color her cheeks. Sharon glanced over in dismay to Gina at that, hoping that her best friend wasn't having a fit. _Well, if she is, it's all internal at this point in time. _Gina just observed, her face void of any emotion.

"I'm sorry... I know how much you don't like to have your romantic secrets out in the open. But I couldn't resist." She yawned and stretched before jumping off of the throne. "Well! Since you're all here..." Her chestnut eyes twinkled with happiness, and Gina could swear that there was a hint of insanity in there as well. "... wanna see something cool?"

_Not really. _Without actually waiting for anyone to respond, Rinoa flourished one arm, and a figure shimmered into existence to the left of the throne.

It took what seemed like an eternity for the occupants to recognize exactly who it was, and they all immediately felt sick when they did.

Quistis Trepe knelt on the dirty floor on bruised knees, her wrists bound by an invisible cord and her normally beautiful blonde hair in disarray and shading her bowed head in shadows. She was barefoot, and the only other article of clothing she had to her name was a nondescript brown shift that was ripped in multiple places, exposing her skin to the elements. Countless bruises marred her form, as well as more than a few cuts that looked to be barely healed and still oozed in places. Her fingers flexed ever so slightly against her bonds, but it seemed more like an off-handed reflex than an actual attempt to be free. Her entire form personified defeat in ways that almost couldn't be fathomed, especially from the self-assured and sophisticated child prodigy professor of Balamb Garden.

Squall felt the bile rise in his throat, and managed to swallow it back down as his eyes refused to move from the kneeling figure ahead of him. He heard Rinoa move, but only allowed himself to see her legs cross in front of Quistis as she walked.

"It's so sad!" Rinoa began conversationally, as if her audience wasn't shocked into a stupor at what just appeared in front of them. "She was so upset... but didn't know who she could talk to. It was eating her up inside... all the things she couldn't say, even to you, Squall. She ended up coming to the one person that she felt could relieve her of her sorrow... her guilt..." Her voice changed as she paced, losing its innocent lilt and turning into something much darker. "She revealed everything. She couldn't ask for forgiveness from you, Squall... so she came to me. And I listened. I was her only shoulder to cry on. Her comfort."

She stopped and stared at Squall, her beautiful lips curled into a sadistic smirk. "But there are some things I don't forgive."

He felt as if his world was suddenly doused in cold water at the horror in front of him. _This is my fault. This is all my fault. _"Quistis..." He murmured from numb lips.

Rinoa rolled her eyes. "Seriously, Squall! I did you a favor. I did US a favor. I knew you weren't strong enough to push her out of your life like you KNEW you should have, before her poisonous fangs sunk into your flesh. I'm just sorry I caught her scheming just a little too late, but she's making all of that up right now." She looked down at the broken figure. "Do you know the best thing about healing spells, Squall? If you know how to tweak them right, you can prolong the sensation of pain far longer than normal. I've been experimenting with those, lately... as well as other things. Isn't that right, Quisty?"

No response from the blonde. Rinoa humored this for a couple of more minutes before frowning and leaning down before executing a vicious backhand that sent Quistis sprawling to lay on her side on the floor. In the moonlight, it was even clearer that more of the bruises and other physical damage was extended to her face, and her eyes fluttered momentarily.

Squall snapped out of his daze and grabbed Rinoa's wrist and flung her stumbling to the side, where she had to grab one side of the enormous throne to regain her balance. Her face was the perfect picture of hurt, and she opened her mouth to say something but was cut off before she managed to form a word. "How could you do something like this!?!?" Squall raised his voice in anguish, his eyes flashing with a myriad mix of disbelief, disgust, and betrayal. "It's as much my fault as it is hers! This is NOT something that the Rinoa I knew would ever do! I .. don't even know who you are. I guess I never did." He then turned from her shocked expression and bent down beside Quistis, taking a small bit of comfort in seeing her chest rise slightly with a shallow breath. Carefully picking up one hand in his own, he smoothed some blood matted strands of hair away from her forehead. "Quistis? Can you hear me?" He whispered.

The rest of the group just watched everything play out like a very morbid Broadway show, their brains either denying or slowly comprehending everything that was going on. "This is so... fucked... UP." Sharon whispered. "Rinoa kept Quistis prisoner for all this time? Doing god knows what? What the fucking hell, man..." She just continued to shake her head, her mouth gaping open in disbelief. "They do say 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned', but this is going WAY too far."

Selphie stood next to her with her hands pulled up to her mouth, her large green eyes still looking on at Quistis and threatening to overflow with tears. Gina took a glance at Irvine, who had gone completely pale and stood stock still, almost detachedly surveying the situation in front of him. Zell's face was set in a deep frown, and his muscles twitched every so often as if he wanted to jump off the handle and go berserk at any moment. I_ can't imagine how badly this is affecting them all... it's shocking enough to Sharii-chan and I... but they grew up together. This would be like watching Jae or Steph or Megh get abused... by a mutual friend, no less. It's so ... wrong. It's just wrong._

Quistis' eyes fluttered again, and a hint of blue flashed beneath her lids. She faintly murmured something, but otherwise didn't show any other form of recognition. Nobody was sure if she even realized she was being cradled. Squall seemed content or at least determined enough to stay kneeling on the floor for as long as it took for Quistis to come around, but evidently Rinoa wasn't having any of that. With a snap of her fingers, an invisible wall immediately came up between them, knocking Squall backwards just enough for Rinoa to send an air spell that tumbled Quistis to the back of the room. Quickly getting to his feet, he rushed forward and met the barrier head on, looking as if he didn't understand what had just happened.

"I'll forgive you, Squall. I know you're still weak." She sighed again, looking disappointed. "I should have known better than to think that even a few months were enough to clear you of her influence." Glaring sharply at Quistis, she lazily reached out and turned her hand as if she were opening a door knob in midair... and the painful and quite audible sound of a bone breaking was heard, followed by a high pitched, agonizing scream. Gina's eye twitched and it took 200% of her willpower to NOT throw up at the sound of that, and she found herself reaching and grabbing Sharon's sleeve tightly for support.

Meanwhile, it took a few more seconds for Squall to react, but when he did, it wasn't good. He furiously pummeled the barrier in front of him. Again and again he met the obstacle, as if he could power his way through it, but as his muscles ached and added to the inner pain he was already feeling at the entire situation, his actions slowed. Finally, he rested his forehead against the impenetrable wall in front of him. _Even as a SeeD... one who is charged with protecting the innocent... and who helped to save the world... I can't even save one person I care about. _Even though she had stopped screaming, that sound still rang in his ears as clear as day, and he was afraid that if he got out of all of that mess alive, he would hear it in his nightmares for years to come. "Why?" He asked brokenly, his eyes shut to everything.

Rinoa flounced over to the front of the throne and sat in the chair again, only this time her posture was much less casual and more refined. Crossing her legs at the knees elegantly, she leaned over and rested one elbow on the gigantic arm rest and surveyed her audience coolly. She seemed to enjoy pregnant pauses, for it seemed like another eternity before she spoke again.

"This world is to be cleansed, of much more than the likes of her that dares come between my Knight and I." The words rolled off of her tongue fluidly, any and all traces of congeniality erased. "And I shall be the one who will see to its completion."

Sharon just blinked at her incredulously. "Oh, hell naw. Ultimecia, anyone?"

Rinoa smirked again. "Ah, yes... Ultimecia... my weaker predecessor. She handled things quite poorly, although she might have succeeded if she hadn't been so ambitious and impatient. She did not have to go to such great lengths to compress time into one... the present is the only one that matters. For if you shape the present, then the past is no longer important... and the future is yours. Entirely. If that is what you truly want, that is." She uncrossed her legs and recrossed them in the opposite way. "Fortunately, I am a benevolent ruler."

Gina changed her attention to Squall, who had managed to slowly slide down the barrier and was now kneeling in front of it, his brown bangs spread out at odd angles around his head. Standing directly behind him, she couldn't see his face, and she was wondering if he was listening or was caught up in his own mind for the time being. It was also taking everything in her to not rush over and check him over, since any sudden movements towards what Rinoa firmly and obviously believed was "her property" would not be the smartest decision to make.

"Are you behind SeeD's downhill spiral?" Zell asked, his face hard.

"SeeD? My dear, SeeD was already on its way out. It was just a matter of time before it tore itself apart from the inside." Rinoa responded flippantly. "Did you honestly expect anything less? I suppose you did... and I also suppose the totality of your ignorance cannot solely be your blame. As I allowed myself in touch with my powers that frightened me so much at first, I began to understand more than just what was in front of me." She leaned forward to him slightly. "Do you know what I see when I close my eyes? Do you know what I feel?" Her eyes closed as she continued her speech, her head tilted slightly upwards. "Everything. Every soul. Every person. I feel individual's hopes and desires... as well as their ignorance, their greed. It is the mantle of the Sorceress, through the gift of Hyne's will, to purge what threatens this world. And what I see now..." Her eyes snapped open, the chocolate brown of her irises now completely black and impossibly deep. "Is SeeD's destruction. Pitiful ideals that are no longer needed, but refuse to die out so that this world may transgress to the next level. So, yes... I gave them a little 'push' in the right direction. Merely a breeze was needed to start everything that you see before you today. If I were less of a person, I could have easily taken a more active role and forced everyone to see to what they were so blind... but that would be hasty. Too hasty, for humanity to properly learn their lesson. And I am patient."

"And this solves WHAT, exactly?" Irvine said. "I'm failing to see how imprisoning people against their will in space or torturing another in your private lair while you pit groups of people against each other equals a utopia."

Rinoa eyeballed him patronizingly. "As for the future... you shall see in due time. As a favor to my Knight, I've purposely left you all out of the spiral that will eventually engulf this world. I thought you all to be above the rest... but I'm beginning to think that some of you might learn best the hard way, with the others."

Sharon deadpanned her, and after looking at the others individually with a look of annoyance and exasperation, threw her hands up in the air. "Okay, you know what? You're fucking nuts, you know that, ho?" She pointed at Rinoa, her incredulousness over the current train of events blowing up her brain worse that the most dramatic of Japanese soap operas. "And you should've stayed on your damn crazy pills Odine prescribed for you, because if you did, then you'd be looking at all of the shit you're doing now with different eyes. SANE eyes, let me reiterate. Why am I saying all this now? Because I am not as dumb as I look, believe it or not, and I know good and damn well you're not letting ANY of us out of here alive. So, I might as well say my piece before you cut out my tongue and place it on a plate of hors d'oeuvres along with Irvine's, or something." She pushed a couple of multi-colored bangs out of her face before nodding over at Quistis. "What the FUCK is up with that? Get a grip, bitch; sorceress or not, the world does NOT revolve around you. No one has the right to EVER treat another person that way. EVER. And if you honestly think that Squall is yours just because you WANT him to be, you'd best think again, as well. Just in case you forgot, he's a human being fully capable of making his own choices. Not all of them are going to be smart, and they might not line up with what you want them to be, but that's not your call. It's ALSO not your call to jump-start some mini-apocalypse just because you feel it's your so-called 'divine right' to do so." She shook off Gina's faint tugging on her arm, knowing that she was going to finish everything she had to say before things got even worse. "We are human. We make our own choices, and we can evolve without your fucking help. And no matter how many generations of humans come and go, we'll still get by. We're ornery like that. And... now I'm done." She put her hands on her hips and lifted her chin defiantly at Rinoa, hoping that her quivering muscles wouldn't be too obvious. She put all of her energy into holding a staring contest with Rinoa, who hadn't moved or blinked since Sharon started her entire tirade.

Eventually, Rinoa lifted one carefully shaped eyebrow and turned her head towards Squall. "Kill her."

If everyone wasn't doing their own personal imitations of inanimate statues, then they certainly shaped up their form at that order. Except for Sharon, who was still forcing herself to stare at Rinoa with her jaw set determinedly, everyone else looked at Squall's figure that hadn't moved from his place on the ground. Zell was waiting for Squall to get up and hopefully chew Rinoa out, as it would give him all the permission he needed to fly into what would most possibly be an ill-fated battle with a burning heart. Selphie had tears running down her face, inwardly chanting that somehow, Rinoa would snap out of whatever had possessed her and it wouldn't come down to anything any of them would have to regret. Irvine simply watched, mentally preparing himself to do what he needed to do if the situation called for it, even if it turned out to be something he didn't want to do. Gina just reached out and grabbed her best friend's wrist and held it, looking for a way to offer support... and if nothing else, a fatalistic agreement that if she was going to go down, then Gina would go with her.

Squall didn't move.

"Your sorceress gave you an order, Squallie-poo." Rinoa's voice gained back a part of her normal girly lilt. "I want her dead."

Wearily, Squall finally got to his feet, moving as if a Slow spell had been put in effect in the space surrounding him. His lips mouthed something that wasn't audible at all, and Rinoa leaned over the throne with her ear towards him. "Hmm?"

He turned his head only slightly towards her, just enough that his side profile was more visible through his brunet locks. "No."

To her credit, Rinoa actually looked genuinely surprised at his response. "Knight's Honor, Leonhart."

Squall turned his head even more, the flat look in his crystal blue eyes telling a thousand words. "I am not your Knight. I never was your Knight. I will never be your Knight." He reiterated calmly, yet firmly.

The raven haired beauty just blinked at him, her mouth forming a small O. "You... can't do that." She sputtered.

He raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, and only continued to stare at her. The gaze in his eyes was entirely different than the look of the boy who made the decision to stop mourning the disappearance of his Sis. It was different than the infuriated look of the teen who was goaded into many a sparring match with his rival at Garden. It was different than the resolve of the warrior faced with a life or death battle that he must win no matter the consequences.

It was the look of a man who had finally, truly, had enough.

Zell, at that moment, oddly found himself reminiscing on all of the times that he and Squall did missions during their time at Garden, probably the effects of the ADD Sharon and Gina have made references to in the past but was never formally diagnosed with. When he was the one ready to jump off of the handle either through impatience or annoyance, it was always and usually Squall that was there to put a hand on his shoulder, the cool and controlled balance that made him such the perfect choice to be the commander of the Garden, and the leader of the group that ended up defeating the evil sorceress Ultimecia and saving the world. That was what Squall was, and what everyone saw and expected him to be. Even with his general unacceptance of his past and his moments when he didn't know any better than anyone else in various situations... he always pulled through, because he was the only one who could do it.

But while Zell was too busy being distracted by whatever Rinoa Heartlily had become and just how badly Quistis was mentally and physically injured, he realized just now the casing that held together his childhood friend had shattered somewhere along the way, and that everything that was left, the part of Squall that peeked through the clouds more and more often as time went by was viciously dragged to the forefront before anyone, including Squall himself, was ready.

And it frightened the martial artist on a level that was entirely different than the fear of knowing that they were going up against yet another all-powerful, megalomaniacal sorceress with a very low chance of survival. The latter he at least had experience with.

"You know just as well as I how this will end."

"Perhaps."

Rinoa narrowed her eyes. "Then draw the line."

Squall slid his eyes over in the general direction of where Quistis lay, lost to the shadows that served as her security blanket, then cocked his head at Rinoa as he met her black gaze unflinchingly.

And said nothing while saying absolutely everything.

A few utterly silent moments followed before the world seemingly exploded.

All of the windows simultaneously imploded with the literal force of the typhoon Rinoa's anger unleashed upon everything, and everyone found themselves violently uprooted from their standing positions to be blown backwards to meet the opposing wall with enough power to knock the breath out of them.

"OH, FUCK!" Sharon shouted in order to be heard over the whistling torrents of wind as she fought to retrieve her center of balance. "SHE DIVIDED BY ZERO!"

Gina squinted against everything to make out Rinoa's figure, standing perfectly still at the eye of the freak storm that had vanquished the torches long ago, her hair dancing as it fanned out around her, the back of the sky blue duster whipping this way and that. And as quickly as it had been conjured, the tornado stopped, leaving everyone gasping for breath and feeling out their bearings. Rinoa's caramel streaks had turned white, and the whites of her eyes were almost entirely taken over by the black pupils. In the calm that followed everything, the torches lit themselves one by one with blazing blue flames as a pair of pristine angel wings unfolded from Rinoa's back as ethereal as the moonlight that still shone down upon them all.

"Treason, Sir Leonhart." She spoke almost too softly. "Is that your choice?"

Making up her mind, Gina completely abandoned her passive role and rushed over to Squall, grabbing him by the arms with more strength than she thought she possessed as she turned him around to face her and forced herself to execute her "In Case of Worst Case Scenario" plan. "Squall, listen to me." She started as calmly but as urgently as she could manage with her voice threatening on the cusp of a waver. "You must accept Rinoa as your Sorceress. She won't take anyone else, and she's chosen you. I know you don't want to, and I know it's not entirely right, but in order to keep her in check enough to ensure that this planet survives whatever she's capable of doing to it in an unbalanced rage, you MUST be her shield. A Knight protects the Sorceress from herself. I've BEEN there, Squall!" She began to plead earnestly, trying not to dissolve into a panic at the lack of reaction in his orbs, trying not to turn from the flatness she saw in them. "It wasn't even easy for me! Rinoa has thrice the power, more than any human being can possibly handle. She probably doesn't even know what's going on, and it's driving her insane! Look... if we can just buy ourselves some more time, we can figure out a solution. A real one. Not a stopgap. But until then, your duty as one of the few remaining SeeDs with his head on straight is to PROTECT THE INNOCENT, NO MATTER WHAT THE COST. Do you understand me?"

Irvine, Zell, Selphie, and Sharon looked expectantly at Squall, to take that step that he always took, to separate his personal thoughts from the situation at hand, the one choice he had left to put a close to the downward spiral their world was going into, to once again become the reluctant hero for the sake of millions of other people's happy endings.

And he did nothing.

Gina choked, her chest tightening with anxiety at the likelihood that her luck with plans had finally run dry, that Squall was too far gone to hear anything of reason. "Squall... please..."

"Gina."

She snapped her head back up to his face, unable to mask the hope in her gaze, that maybe it wasn't too late. "Squall?"

"I love you."

And as Gina felt their lips meet and her heart sing with all the intensity of joy she could say that she had ever experienced in her entire life while colliding with the deepest depths of despair for the now hopelessly lost situation, she closed her eyes and wept bittersweet tears.

_Love is insanity._

And Rinoa laughed. Her laughter was free and hearty while being undeniably wicked and borderline maniacal. "Oh, Squall... I'm humored."

Gina blinked her tears away and looked at the person in front of her wistfully. "Squall... this might be such a Sharii-chan thing to say right now... but you're an idiot."

Squall shrugged slightly, and a corner of his mouth twitched. "Whatever."

The sorceress gave one last, long sigh after regaining her composure... and lifted her hand at the pair, glowing with sparks of energy. "I'll just send you both to hell together." And then she blinked at the loud noise that suddenly rang throughout the throne room. Almost sleepily, she tilted her head at her raised hand in curiosity at the hole that had perfectly punctured straight through the palm that was now pouring tremendous amounts of blood down her wrist to stain her blue arm guards.

"I don't think so, sweetheart." Clicking his rifle to dispose of the shell he just fired without disrupting his line of vision, Irvine remained poised in his half crouched position on the floor. "Try again if you want something else removed. I never miss my target." He winked.

Moving fast, Sharon used all of her momentum to bum rush Irvine off to the side, just as a blast of magic completely obliterated the spot where he was just situated. They both rolled for a moment, and Sharon raised her head to look at the damage before whipping it back around to glare at Irvine. "I haven't decided whether or not I want to slap the shit out of you for that or to kiss you."

"You can do both; I'd like it. But not right now!" He tugged on her arm and they stumbled off to the side to avoid another blast of energy pummeled in their direction, and pieces of the ceiling showered down around them. "I think she's pissed."

Gina and Squall went flying in one direction, knocked off by another furious blast that was only tempered by the Wall spell that was quickly put in place right before impact. Selphie let loose a large Firaga in retaliation, but it dispersed directly before a duplicate spell fired back at the girl in yellow, catching her off guard. Shrieking, she almost forgot that she had Shell in place that took the brunt of the attack, but she didn't like feeling the heat from the spell so dangerously close to her skin. Zell actually took the opportunity to launch a flying kick at Rinoa, who lifted her hand and suspended him in midair before tossing him off like a rag doll. He suppressed a shout as he collided with one of the sconces on the wall, the embers floating down around him as he hit the ground.

Squall surveyed the situation with a critical eye. "We can't get near her physically, and our magical attacks will simply get turned back on us. We'll need to summon a GF. I'll need a distraction."

Nodding, Gina scrambled to her feet and grabbed her bow and arrows that miraculously weren't broken despite being hurled to and fro, and took aim before shouting over to her best friend. "Sharii-chan! Remember the old double-whammy?"

She drew a blank for a moment before snapping her fingers in recognition. "Gotcha! Seared, or scorched?"

"Scorched."

The girl in the black and red braids fired off the arrow, and Sharon concentrated a Thundaga spell at the tip as it cut through the air, hitting Rinoa's strong barrier with a bright explosion. Before most of the smoke cleared from that, Irvine caught on and started firing off shot after shot from the other side. Selphie used that opportunity to creep over to where Zell was climbing to his feet, and administered a few Cure spells to the burns he had sustained from the collision. Meanwhile, Rinoa expanded her angel wings impossibly wide, and let loose a radius of invisible energy that washed over them all and left them feeling strangely drained in just a matter of seconds.

"Enough." Rinoa stated, slowly levitating. Her eyes locked onto Squall again. "I wanted you by my side, Squall. It was how it was supposed to be from the beginning. But I cannot make that choice for you. And by the end of this night... the only thing I will regret is attempting to do what I should have known was impossible from the very beginning." Her tears shone in the light of the moon as they slid down her cheeks, the only sign of emotion left on her visage.

Squall watched her for a moment longer before nodding slowly. "And I refuse to be chained by regrets any longer." With that, he sent his summon request to the heavens with what was left of the dwindling connection he had been building before Rinoa's previous attack, and prayed that it'd be answered.

Almost immediately, the light started dimming in the circular hall. "Oh, shit..." Sharon mouthed as she looked up to the windows. Everyone followed her line of vision to see that dark clouds had ominously rolled in, and were quickly covering the moon. Soon, the only light available to the occupants were of the remaining torches along the far walls that still glowed with the supernatural blue flames, casting a dreary and dismal glow on an already deleterious situation. Rinoa flexed the hand that she had fully healed from Irvine's unexpected rifle blast, and turned her head towards the window as well, her brows furrowing slightly.

A deafening roar sounded, and shortly thereafter, the entire ceiling was ripped asunder, exposing the room to the elements. Gina felt her mouth drop open as she recognized the Guardian Force that answered the call, and looked upon the familiar and imposing dark features of the Legendary Guardian, Griever. Rinoa looked at her newest visitor nonplussed, her arms at her sides as her angel wings flapped lazily, keeping her body hovering in mid-air. "What is this disturbance?"

_I am Griever, Messenger of the Great Hyne. _The deep, rumbling voice echoed through everyone's mind like an avalanche. _Since being freed from the service of the one called Ultimecia, it has been decided that you shall be the Last of the Mortal Scions to hold Hyne's power._

Rinoa continued to stare as if she wasn't quite understanding the point.

_The misuse of the greatest gift has troubled Hyne for some time, and with my suggestion has looked through the eyes of my brethren, the Guardian Forces that have remained on this earth while Hyne ascended to the heavens. Through them, He has seen great changes in humanity since the decline of the Centra, whose ancient fortress you now occupy. Evolution... Hyne mourns His blindness, and has called on me to administer the removal of the Sorceress Gift from all corners of the world for Eternity._

"Hyne will mourn more than blindness if He removes the balance that this world has needed since its creation." Rinoa finally spoke. "Mark my words; they will become nothing but lost souls if this comes to pass."

_How long has it been since the people have worshipped the Sorceress as they have in the days of the Centra? How long has it been since the Sorceress has been needed to guide today's mortals?_

"We are ALWAYS NEEDED. Humanity has gotten too far away from us, from Hyne, and our removal will only incite disaster." Rinoa argued firmly. "They are flawed; you understand this as well as I!"

_And so are those who inherit His Gift. No more shall tyranny ensue in the name of Hyne. From this day forth, the Guardian Forces will share the duty of the Scion, and watch over humanity as they start on a new path of life. _Griever turned his head towards the others in the room, and left them with a final request: _Live Freely. _He extended his uniquely feathered wings and shot straight upwards to the heavens, and created a funnel of wind that surrounded Rinoa in his wake as the remaining remnants of the sorceress powers that had become a subject of terror for the citizens of the world were siphoned from her body, white feathers flying every which way as she was slowly lowered to the ground. Everyone did nothing but stare as the clouds dispersed as if they had never been in the sky, and the moonlight once again shone down on them all, and Rinoa's body laid motionless on the ground directly in front of the throne, a couple of feathers serenely fluttering around her.

Irvine let loose a breath that he didn't even know he had been holding. "Was that actually supposed to happen?"

Squall blinked before replying. "I guess. I was trying to summon Bahamut, actually. So I had nothing to do with this."

Sharon eyeballed the raven haired woman on the floor. "Is she still alive? And will poking her with my staff affect anything?"

Gina rolled her eyes and pushed ahead and kneeled down at Rinoa's body and put two fingers to a pulse point on her neck. After a few seconds, Gina straightened up. "She's breathing, but unconscious."

Zell whistled from the other side of the room where he and Selphie were standing. "Hey, we need your help with Quistis over here!"

Everyone else rushed over to the almost forgotten figure of Quistis, who was also unconscious but thankfully still alive despite the obvious beatings she had endured. Gina flinched as she looked at her wrist that was bent at an odd angle. "That will need to be set before any healing spells or potions will fix that up."

"Well, everything else I can take care of in a jiffy. Hold on!" Stepping back, Selphie closed her eyes and concentrated her most powerful Full Cure spell that engulfed Quistis in a green light before fading away with all of her bruises and most of her wounds save for the broken bone. Wiping her forehead after the effort it took to do the spell, Selphie looked her over. "I can't do anything about some of the scars that have obviously been around for awhile, but she should be okay for now."

The cowboy frowned, his eyes slightly distant. "Physical wounds and mental wounds are two completely different things, Selph. I'm not sure if Quisty will be okay for a long time. And she's going to need all the support we can give her in the meantime."

Zell sat down on the floor, leaning his head against the wall as he looked over all of the damage that had occurred since they walked into the room and heaved a large sigh. "Well, guys... I don't know if we can call this a happy ending or not... but it's over."

"It's really hard to believe that there will be no more sorceresses..." Selphie said. "I mean, do you know how big of an impact that this is going to make on the whole world? A good one, yeah... I think... but still... I can hardly think about it, and I SAW all of it happen!"

"I saw a lot of things today that I sure as hell would never have seen back at Grand Valley, that's for sure. My brain isn't even completely working anymore." Sharon massaged her temples wearily. "Oh... and Squall? I know you just finally learned how to get in touch with your emotions and all... for real this time... and I'm happy for you. But PLEASE let this be a lesson to you; PDA can be fatal."

Squall ran an equally weary hand through his hair. "I'll keep that in mind."

The group of heroes stood or sat around in silence for awhile, too tired and way too overwhelmed by everything to do anything else. Too much had transpired that evening, and all of it was nothing that they could have ever been prepared for.

"So... what now?" Sharon asked.

Zell stood up from his place on the floor as Squall turned towards them all. "We go home."


	27. Chapter 26

**A/N:** You know what's really bad after writing such an epic chapter as the one previous to the current? Knowing that every chapter following it will pale in comparison.

* * *

A bright, sunny afternoon was gracing the large city of Esthar, and many the occupant was filing in one of the amphitheatres near the center of the city. Two weeks had passed since the group had returned to Balamb Garden and filled in Headmaster Cid of the incredible chain of events that had transpired during their absence. To say he was shocked would have been the grandest understatement of the century, and put forward the necessary actions to care for both Quistis and Rinoa while declaring that he would be taking an impromptu vacation to his wife's abode and was not to be bothered under any circumstances. The gang was worried about how Cid was taking everything, for as much of a shock as it was, but there wasn't much left to do besides taking care of things they could do... and taking part in much needed rest.

Squall, unfortunately, didn't get much rest. Due to Cid's abrupt and total withdrawal from Garden, his position as commander left him on duty managing things almost entirely on his own. In that period of time, Gina saw the old Squall resurface, mechanically confining himself to his office and keeping things running efficiently. Making up her mind, Gina sucked it up and made it her duty from then on out to make sure that Squall got food, sleep, and at least a good couple of hours away from work whether he was in the middle of something or not. She was afraid that he'd refuse to budge, but she was pleasantly surprised when he always greeted her with a smile (even if it was a tired smile, more often than not) and obediently followed her suggestions.

Irvine, in the meantime, was happily becoming re-acclimated to Sharon's ridiculously ornery and borderline insufferable behavior whenever it came to him. Sharon, much to her dismay, was discovering that she was running out of things to throw at him, both verbally and physically. Selphie and Zell humored themselves by taking bets on how much longer it would take before Sharon finally cracked, but thankfully not within earshot.

On a much more somber note, it was found that Rinoa had lapsed into a coma since having her sorceress powers stripped from her, and was being carefully attended by Dr. Odine and a select number of assistants with a plethora of high tech equipment to stabilize her condition. As curious and inexplicably baffled by the apparent nullification of the Sorceress Gene that had been a large part of his life's work, Odine actually approached the situation sensibly and dedicated himself and his crew to ensure Rinoa's recovery for non-experimental purposes. It could be said that a major motivation in Odine's change of mad-scientist behavior was due to the President of Esthar threatening to permanently shut down Odine Labs if he did anything that could be considered "fishy", but all in all it was the first priority to increase the probability of Rinoa awakening from her coma with the least amount of side effects as possible.

Quistis was a sticky situation in and of itself. While she had the luck to not be thrown into a coma due to all of the trauma she herself had endured for months on end at the hands of an unexpected enemy, her mental state was in the slow and careful process of being rebuilt to the person she was before all of the events occurred... and while doctors have said that all of her injuries would heal cleanly, the best psychologists weren't too optimistic about a full mental recovery. There would be a long process of having Quistis feel secure enough to be able to either talk about or otherwise be able to document all of the things that happened to her in order for the acceptance process to begin, and then even more time to get her reacclimated to her surroundings and her life in general. As for the people in it, thus far only Zell and Selphie were allowed to see her, and that was only once per individual. Depending on how well her progress went, Irvine would be admitted after a couple of weeks, since the doctors did not want her being overwhelmed with too much at once. Sharon and Gina would be an even longer wait, seeing as though Quistis might not be able to mentally handle the surprise of seeing two people that were supposed to be long gone reappearing back in her life again, and any little shock at this point in time might mistakenly send her into a relapse. The doctors couldn't predict far enough into the future to even give an approximate time frame for when it would be appropriate for Squall to finally see her, obviously because of the intricacies involved in their relationship and how it attributed largely to the strain prior to the tremendously traumatizing events. Despite the heavy news, the group took everything in stride and simply sent forth their most positive energy and held a continuously optimistic mind frame for her, since it was the most they could do on that front.

As for the state of SeeD in general, it was like a fog was slowly beginning to lift from everyone's minds. It was gradual; so gradual that no one outside of those who knew the truth would be able to discern that anything out of the ordinary had happened. The knowledge of Rinoa even being a sorceress was confined only to those directly involved with the overall mission to begin with, as Headmaster Cid found no reason to create yet another panic over a barely missed Sorceress War that was arguably much more intricate and personal than the last. The only thing that was publically noticeable was that there had been no outbreaks of SeeD battles since Rinoa had been quelled, but it would be a while until everything was completely settled. While the gang was glad, they found themselves wondering where exactly to go from here on out.

And that's when Cid had come out of his hibernation to publically announce that he would be delivering an important address, and that every SeeD was required to attend. President Laguna opened up the gates of Esthar for the occasion at the Headmaster's request, since no other place would be large enough to hold the massive amount of people that were expected to be in attendance. The entire speech was to be broadcast to radios and televisions for the citizens that could not make it all the way out to Esthar to witness the proceeds. And outside of Cid, nobody knew what in the hell to expect.

"So, uh... you think we should be scared, or anything?" Sharon rhetorically asked, examining her fingernails. The group of them had managed to secure seats right at the front before most of the crowds had filed in, and were now waiting around for whatever announcement Cid had in store for the masses. "Because for all we know, Cid could have herded us all here just to drop an atom bomb on our asses while cackling maniacally, or something."

"Sharii-chan... Cid wouldn't do that, and you know it." Gina sighed, sitting in her seat and trying to relax. She was anxious to know what awaited them all, and all of the nervous or uncertain energy that was coming in from everyone else wondering the same thing was getting to her. Absently reaching down and scratching the tuft of orange fur that belonged to Ravi the Moomba, she tried desperately to distract herself from what her nerves were telling her was "incoming doom", she turned towards Squall who was seated beside her. "Where's Selphie, again?"

The brunet blinked and looked around, rising slightly out of his chair in order to get a better look. "She and Irvine went to go find Yaten, I think."

Zell folded his arms and examined the hordes of SeeDs that were pouring in. "Man, you can already tell that they're splitting up into factions. Even those who didn't show up in uniform for once have made it perfectly clear who they are affiliated with... I really hope nothing is going to jump off HERE of all places."

Sharon shook her head. "I really think that if nothing has happened since the past two weeks, then nothing is going to happen randomly now. Folks are tense as hell, that's pretty obvious... but no one is going to make a move. Besides," She nodded her head towards a select number of people creating a perimeter around the area. "Seifer's got this ish on lockdown just in case."

Squall automatically found himself looking around for his old rival, but couldn't see him amongst all of the people that were milling around. _Or maybe he just isn't here. Not like I'd blame him. _Not only would Squall himself not look forward to being a single neutralizing force against three borderline hostile ones if in Seifer's position, he also wouldn't know what to do or say if they bumped into each other. Not only had four years worth of time gone by, the past was somewhat in consideration, and he didn't know how much had changed when it came to Seifer. Squall was still in the midst of dealing with his own changes, and most of those had been spurned on by the catalyst that was the final battle with Rinoa. Even with all of the concerns at hand, he also knew he felt a bit of disappointment that Seifer wasn't around. _ I guess this means I miss him more than I've been realizing, too._

"Hey! Save us some seats?" Selphie appeared in the middle of Squall's vision at that moment, attached to the arm of a handsome and very happy looking young man that Gina and Sharon automatically recognized to be Yaten. "I got him away before Martine would notice. You guys don't mind if he sits with us, do you?"

"Of course not! Besides, we have front row seats!" Zell said, moving over a few to make room. "And I don't think anybody wants to sit over in that suffocating bunch. I don't know how you survived in that hole so long."

The silver-haired male shrugged good-naturedly and sat down in his seat, where Selphie immediately took hers perched on his lap. "Well, Irvine and I made it a worthwhile experience. If nothing else, we took the blame together. And if it weren't for this girl right here, then I'd be missing out on a lot in life." He wrapped his arms around Selphie's waist and grinned before turning to Sharon and Gina. "So... where's my boat?"

"Umm... on the coast of the Great Salt Lake somewhere?" Gina flinched, expecting retribution. "No one ever goes around there, so I'm sure it's not stolen or anything. And we didn't break it, either! But... we'll go looking for it with the Ragnarok!" She hurriedly covered, biting her lip.

Yaten laughed. "Hey, it's cool. It served its purpose, didn't it? That's the most important thing." He looked up as Irvine came over to the row and smoothly slid in the seat next to Sharon. "Did you run into Martine?"

Irvine snorted. "No. I saw him, though. And I'm sure if he has any lackeys, they know where I'm seated."

Sharon rolled her eyes and snarled. "Tell that crotchety mother fucker to bring it, then. I got something for him."

"A foot up the ass?" Zell suggested, based on some of the colorful girl's frequently stated solutions.

"You can stick your foot up there to make room for the staff that will be coming up next. Sideways."

Irvine smiled and stretched, putting his arm around Sharon's shoulders. "Ah. I love it when you're overprotective." He winked at Yaten. "Told you she has the hots for me."

Sharon twitched and shrugged his arm off. "You're a conceited ass twat that needs to go die in a fire."

Yaten barely held back a smirk as his eyebrows rose. "I can see that."

Sharon peered over the top of her glasses at Yaten. "You know, I like you Yaten. I really do. And I know you feel somewhat obligated to be on your friend's side. But don't make me kill you."

Before Selphie could rise to the defense of her boyfriend, Squall cut her off. "Okay, you guys. It's starting."

Everyone redirected their attentions to the front, where a stage had been situated in the direct center of the seats that circulated outwards. It was there that Cid approached the podium, and Headmasters Martine and Ela from Galbadia and Trabia Gardens followed, taking two seats just behind him. It was the first time that Sharon and Gina saw the elusive Headmaster of Trabia Garden, and took in her slim figure primly outfitted in the grays and whites that the particular Garden ascribed to, her almost-white blond hair cut short and slightly spiked, giving her face and especially her emerald eyes emphasis.

The crowd that surrounded them diminished their murmurs to whispers, before finally fading out to silence as everyone watched the Headmaster of Balamb Garden adjust the mic that had been placed there for his use.

"Greetings, everyone. You'll have to forgive me for organizing something so hastily, but as you can probably guess, these epiphanies of mine are far and few in between." He adjusted his glasses before continuing. "Thank you all for coming. What I'm about to say has been carefully considered over the course of a couple of weeks, and has also been discussed in confidentiality with my fellow Headmasters, and we all have agreed that it is the best course of action in the light of things." Cid took another pause. "From this day forth, SeeD is terminated."

A few more moments passed while his words sunk in before the masses erupted in a tumultuous chatter, emotions ranging from disbelief to confusion, and dismay.

Sharon blinked. "... he DID just say what I thought I heard him say, right?"

Gina nodded, still looking towards the front. "Yep. He dropped the bomb quick enough. But I guess he's really that serious."

Cid waited patiently while the worst of the noise rode out, and then cleared his throat into the microphone to silence the remaining bits of it. "I'm sure now that a lot of you are wondering why this decision has been made, and so unexpectedly on top of things. But in all honesty, it is something that should have been done long before now... before we've all had to learn the hard way."

Seagulls soared overhead, sounding their far-off calls amongst the clouds as they flew innocently over what had to be the biggest and most important gathering in SeeDs history. "To the people of the world, we that were SeeD sincerely apologize from the depths of our hearts for failing you. It was not fair that those you have been conditioned to look up to, to reach a hand to for help, have been so blind as to forget the one thing that has been taught in our establishments from the moment the newest cadet enrolls. 'Protect the Innocent'.

"Some of you might be experiencing feelings of guilt. Others might feel justified in their previous actions. Still more might be confused and wonder how everything had turned out so horribly wrong. But rest assured, this is not your undoing. It is mine." He placed a hand to his comfortable red blazer, directly above his heart. "Had I not been blind to what had been staring me in the face since the defeat of the last sorceress that has threatened our way of living, all of this might have been avoided. With the banishing of the sorceress Ultimecia, so should have SeeD been disbanded. SeeD has suffered too much at the hands of greed and ignorance, and so those we have been charged to protect have fallen with us. So, I ask you; what can we do to rectify our error? To win ourselves back into the hearts of those we have betrayed?"

He halted his speech while his eyes scanned the crowd that didn't know whether or not they should start supplying answers, or if it was a rhetorical question. "Nothing." He gave a weary smile. "It serves not one man to spend his life lamenting the past as penance for the future. The only thing that we must do is move forward, and to each individual make decisions wiser than the last. As a world full of people of all shapes and sizes, we should each be aware of the whole we encompass. It is natural for humans to forget that it is not our differences that are the focus, but instead it is our similarities that should bond us into the closest possible embodiment of unity.

"Unity... it's not a word that we give enough thought, much less in the instances in which it is important to do so. Yet, it is what holds us together, keeps us alight in the face of the toughest adversities. Thankfully, I have not been so quick to forget this, and as such, have taken the steps to prepare what might certainly be my last great idea to you all." His blue eyes seemed to twinkle as his gaze shifted to the front row, where he knew Squall and the others were seated.

Zell shifted. "Dude... what's he planning?" He whispered.

"While SeeD itself shall cease to exist after today, the Gardens of Balamb, Galbadia, and Trabia are not to fall entirely defunct. For one, I am sure that all of you have come to see your individual bases as your homes, and it is not my intention to single-handedly uproot you from the only place you might have. I understand your situation, and for those who must, may feel free to continue to reside in your established dormitories for the duration of the transitioning period. If you find yourself troubled by the inactivity that will endure for an uncertain amount of time, then there is also the choice to continue your military exploits in the Galbadian Army. Since having their name tainted from the events that have transpired four years ago, enrollment has been scarce and its members are mediocre at best. Protecting the innocent is not just a lesson learned by the SeeD, but it should be and is a practice instilled within the Army... and once one takes away the specific purpose of SeeD, the Army's practices are intrinsically the same. At any rate, we must support and rebuild our Army through our own exploits and morals, as it cannot be done in any other fashion." Cid explained. "After however long it takes for things to be recalibrated and prepared to my liking, the Gardens shall be reinstated once more under a completely different task, one that might be foreign to many but beneficial to all. For these Gardens will serve as an educational hub, opening their doors to teach both the young and old willing to expand their limited knowledge of the world around them and beyond. Education outside of what has been deemed by most as 'necessary' for survival has been sorely neglected, perhaps save for what lies behind the advanced and mighty borders of this city of Esthar. Perhaps if our minds were trained to be open as our bodies are trained to be able, we might be able to make better decisions and shape our own future. When they come to light, they are never again to be accompanied by the suffix 'Garden'. Instead, they are to be called... a 'University'."

Gina's mouth dropped open, and she didn't have to look to her friends on either side of her to know that they were all in the same state of shock. Ravi turned and looked puzzled at everyone's expressions, not understanding why his owners were struck with varying degrees of the "deer caught in headlights" look. Murmurs started to buzz again, only this time a lot less frantic and disconcerted as the ones that came before. Most seemed to be at least curious at the new idea of this University, and wondered what kind of things they would be exploring outside of what they were usually exposed to during their training.

Cid scratched his reddish-brown hair for a moment, then held up a hand as he prepared to speak more. "Oh, yes! I've almost forgotten something equally as important." He searched the crowd, his head turning this way and that as he tried to find a specific person. "Headmaster Seifer Almasy, would you be so kind as to come forward to the stage, please?"

Squall couldn't help but flinch at the audible gasps of those in the crowd that undoubtedly recognized his name as the antagonist that set a lot of past events that were distinctly unfavorable to the world in general, and watched as Seifer's tall figure emerged from the back of the amphitheatre to walk towards the front, his head high and his eyes forward. As he took his place on the podium a couple of paces away from old Headmaster, Squall looked upon his wary figure as he examined Cid with a mixture of emotions, obviously uncomfortable to be in the spotlight for what was probably the first time in his life.

"I have heard from the President that you have done a remarkable job at maintaining the integrity of SeeD while the rest of us dissolved into discord from within the walls of Esthar, as I'm sure everyone can definitely see the results of today." Cid nodded to the organized formation White SeeD had taken around the perimeters. "As such, it's been decided that the Garden of Esthar shall be the only remainder of SeeD, as testament to those who haven't faltered during the hardest times that SeeD has faced arguably since its creation. Your hard work is to be commended, and the President himself has formally requested that White SeeD stay intact as Esthar's personal police unit, as it unofficially has been since you have taken the oath of Headmaster. And... I feel obligated to say, that as your previous Headmaster, I am very proud of you for what you have managed to contribute to society." He patted Seifer's arm with a smile, as Seifer himself stood stock still and blinked down at Cid as if he was trying to figure out if everything was one big joke.

"This is a new era for all of us. It is our responsibility, our right, to make of life what we may. With Hyne as our witness, we shall carry our society, our world, into the future. We have nothing to fear from the unknown, and have nothing to lose by following our aspirations to the next level. Whatever we might accomplish, whatever we might face... we shall do so together. And with that, I'm adjourning my speech. Thank you." Cid stepped back to stand with the other headmasters, leaving Seifer standing near the front of the stage, still trying to absorb everything that had transpired.

A couple of handclaps speckled in odd places throughout the crowd, and soon applause that started off either uncertainly or enthusiastically, as it was the case for Zell and Sharon, who immediately jumped to their feet and started a chorus of whoops and cheers that startled Ravi and would have had Squall placing a hand to his forehead in exasperation if he already wasn't adding to the applause in a more civilized manner. Cid turned and looked at Martine and Ela, who were also standing and nodding their approval, and gave a sheepish smile and a shrug that was all too familiar to the now ex-Headmaster of Balamb Garden.

"So." Sharon said, looking at Gina.

Her best friend shrugged and quirked her lips up into a smile. "I guess Balamb is going to be the next Grand Valley State University."

Sharon wrinkled her nose. "Man, I would hope it would be more INTERESTING than GV. Even though Balamb IS a small town in the middle of nowhere." She turned to Squall and nudged his arm. "Hey, make sure there's actual school activities and shit."

He lifted an eyebrow. "What makes you think I'm going to do anything? I'm a commander of a now defunct Garden. So that gives me what authority, exactly?"

Sharon folded her arms. "Oh, come on, you mean to tell me you're not going to have a hand in making sure Balamb University reaches acclaim?"

Squall shook his head and smiled a bit. "I need a break."

"Not only that, but think of it this way; we're a thing of the past, now." Irvine said. "I think it's about time that we leave the future up to the young'uns. I daresay we've done enough overtime."

Selphie tilted her head thoughtfully. "And we didn't even get paid."

At that, everyone turned and blinked at her, then dissolved into laughter, leaving the bubbly girl confused at what exactly she said that was so funny. Yaten shook his head at his girlfriend's naiveté, and gave her a kiss on the cheek that automatically distracted her happily, while before Irvine could even look to do anything got cut off by a death glare from Sharon. Gina muffled a snort and looked shyly over at Squall, who smiled softly and took her hand discreetly, causing her heart to flutter giddily. _I've got to stop being such a dork._

"Puberty Boy." Squall looked up and over automatically at the name, and came face to face with Seifer, who had managed to dodge the milling people and crowding that had started directly after Cid adjourned his speech. The entire group paused, bringing forth the habit of waiting with baited breath between the two men who were as different as night and day. For a moment, both of them just sized each other up, before Seifer broke the silence. "I see you got out of whatever mess you last got yourself into." He stated plainly.

Squall nodded. "I'm just glad it's finally over."

Seifer raised an eyebrow. "That bad?"

"You could say that."

The blond snorted and crossed his arms. "You're going to have to fill me in on things one of these days."

"Likewise... Headmaster."

Seifer let out another snort and turned to look back at the stage. "Never thought I'd see the day."

Squall quirked his head. "SeeD disbanding?"

"No... Cid Kramer finally growing balls at age 45."

Sharon bit the inside of her lip almost to the point of self-injury to keep from howling with laughter that would have certainly attracted tons of unwanted attention, and Gina patted her on the shoulder as Cid finally approached them all with a smile. "So... I suppose you can garner a guess as to where I drew my inspiration?" He rhetorically asked, his eyes sparkling.

"DOES THIS MEAN WE GET EINSTIEN BAGEL DOGS ON CAMPUS?!?!" Zell blurted out, then clapped his hand over his mouth at his over-excited tone. Seifer rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath that sounded awfully like "chicken wuss", but didn't exactly feel obligated to go into detail.

"It means a lot more than that. There are many preparations that must be put into action, and all very soon to ensure that all goes well. It might not be for a year at the very least for the kinks to get ironed out of this. However, thanks to Xu, I've been looking through this pamphlet that she managed to hold onto..." He took out a Grand Valley State University booklet and leafed through it as he continued. "And it shouldn't be terribly hard to incorporate a similar structure in our world. It will be small in the beginning, no doubt about that. But as long as the foundations are set, time should take care of the rest."

Yaten stepped over and peered down at the pictures that were scattered throughout blocks of texts explaining the different classes and roles that students and faculty played. "Hmm, Irvine was right; it IS a beautiful campus."

"And boring." Gina, Sharon, and Seifer all said in unison, and Zell gaped at them. "Dude, it wasn't THAT bad. There's a mall-"

"That you can't even take the bus to anymore." Sharon interjected.

"-and it had an awesome arcade-"

"Kahunaville went under a year after you left."

"-and then the Renaissance Festival-"

"If it wasn't for the spectacle that Seifer and Squall caused, then it would have been just as stale as all the ones before and after it."

"-you could go from dorm building to dorm building to visit people-"

"Now they've updated their locks and you can't do that anymore due to ghey security issues."

"-Einstein Brothers Bagels makes the most awesome hot dogs-"

"But they discontinued their Broccoli Cheddar soup two years ago, and I've been on strike over eating there since."

"What?" Squall finally made a comment, causing everyone to look at him oddly. He met their gazes evenly and shrugged. "That's a shame. I really liked that soup."

Irvine furrowed his brows and looked at Gina and Sharon. "So... exactly how much changed since we left?"

Gina shrugged. "Both a lot and not at all at the exact same time. For one, Sharii-chan and I live on the complete opposite side of campus now, past Kirkoff. There wasn't anything over there but cornfields 4 years ago, but all that's been cleared away to make for upperclassmen housing."

"No way! I can't even picture it... there's something actually beyond Kirkoff Center?"

Selphie finally huffed and crossed her arms, pouting. "Okay you guys, this is totally not fair. I'm getting so jealous just listening to you all talk about this place that I didn't even know EXISTED until after Ultimecia was done and over with."

Cid stepped back and looked at them all, much like a father would look at his children proudly yet nostalgically. "Well. I have one last mission for you all, if you choose to accept it. There is no pressure, of course. But I do have a feeling that this might be one mission most of you would not want to miss."

Seifer examined his old Headmaster skeptically, wondering if he was too quick to be even remotely impressed with the progress that had been made that day if Cid was so quick to come up with what was most probably going to be another needless, ill fated command. Selphie and Zell leaned forward eagerly, their eyes equally as wide, anticipating what they both hoped would be what they were thinking it was. Poor Yaten looked entirely confused and looked as though he walked in on one very large inside joke, while Irvine smiled knowingly as he looked upon Cid. Sharon and Gina exchanged a glance that was both anxious and excited at the same time. Squall simply addressed Cid via the protocol that was ingrained in him for as long as he could remember.

"Sir?"

The ex-Headmaster of Balamb Garden clasped his hands behind his back... and smiled.


	28. Epilogue

Jaenelle carefully moved her finger over the mouse pad of her laptop, tracing the outline of an original fan art of Final Fantasy X's main heroine, her eyes determined and her face less than 5 inches from the screen. _Almost got it..._

"... oh, damnit!" The tedious tracing of the image failed at the last possible moment, completely screwing over the layout she had been trying to make since she got back from class in the afternoon. _ It always fails at the SAME SPOT. _Of course, it had been at least 5 hours since then, but time blew away fast when she wasn't in class, having to go to class, thinking about class, or doing homework. Jae knew and had been told by many that she was a rather intelligent young lady... but she also knew that she was on the way to making the Guinness Book of World Records at being the Worst Procrastinator. For some reason, the internet was a hidden source of a time warp that she was convinced the government didn't know how to completely tap into. Either or, it definitely was the college student's best friend and worst enemy, all for the same reasons.

Her green eyes glanced quickly at the time at the bottom of the screen, situated clearly on her start bar and told her that she'd better start thinking about doing schoolwork... like Professor Smith's translation for Ancient Chinese Language. She had the printout of Mencius' latest babblings SOMEWHERE. _It might be on the couch in the living room... or maybe somewhere under all of these clothes on my bed... did I make a mistake and put food on it when I was making a microwave meal earlier? Or was that last week's assignment that I still have to complete?_

Pushing all of those ridiculously depressing thoughts to the back of her mind where they would stay for the time being (or at least, until she arrived in class next and came to the horrific realization that she did NOT do the homework), she noted that a relatively short amount of time had passed since two of her very good friends dropped a neigh-unbelievable bomb on Plan B... and Jae was still in somewhat of a shock.

It wasn't that she didn't believe them... although any sane person probably would have called bullshit as soon as they opened their mouths about it all, but she was very serious about her friendships and the trust that lie between them. Despite a lot of her past being clouded with the disappointments and hurt over betrayals and soured acquaintances, it never stopped her from unfailingly giving her all when she found people worth dedicating herself to. _And Rikku and Wakka wouldn't lie. At least, they wouldn't lie to us. _Even if Jae wanted to go down that route laced with doubt, her mind was comforted with the undeniable fact that Gina was by nature a horrible liar, and Sharon could only keep up a joke for so long before cracking and laughing. Not to mention, a joke of this caliber wasn't in either of the girls' styles.

_What would I do if I found myself in the Gundam Wing universe? _Jae tossed to the forefront the all-too familiar line of thought that had been running constantly in her head since her friends left on their ambiguous adventure. If there was a "geeky" fandom she knew back and forth without pausing to ponder about it, it would be Gundam Wing, with a close second being Dragon Ball Z. She turned around in her chair and looked at the three and a half foot tall Heero Yuy plushie that sat in the same place on her bed all of the time, and tilted her head as she swam in her thoughts. While she had a general idea of what she'd be doing - which would probably be a mixture between panicking profusely and drooling over Pilot 01 somehow without him ever noticing - she also had no bloody clue if she could honestly handle it. Jae was a first class dreamer, and her thick background in the subjects of Philosophy and the arts made her one of the most open-minded and adaptable beings of her age group. _But a fictional universe suddenly becoming REAL? That's somewhat unfathomable. And just what would I tell Papa Ni and Shang? Ni is way too grounded and enlightened for anything like that, and Shang would just tell me, "it's stupid!"_

Sighing to herself, she scooted her chair back up to the desk, and cracked her fingers as she prepared to tackle the ultimate pain in the ass that was Photoshop CS 2.

Or she was until she heard the tale-tell beeps of someone entering in the key code for entrance to their four-person room. Her eyes going wide, she pushed back her chair and jumped over the piles of things she had been meaning to straighten up for awhile now in her room just to reach the doorway and look across the living room to see that her best friend Steph had done the same thing at the exact same time. They gazed at each other with the same expression on their faces, and turned their attention to the main door as Megh opened her own bedroom door a crack and peered around the corner curiously.

For what seemed like an eternity, the door opened and Gina walked in, rolling her duffel behind her. She no longer was wearing the uniform that she left with, which meant to the other members of Plan B that she had to go SOMEWHERE in order to change clothes, even if none of them were entirely sure of where she went to do it. Looking up then in surprise, Gina stopped in mid-step at the threshold between the living room and the kitchen, her eyes darting nervously at each of her friends staring at her expectantly. "Uh... hi, guys." She started uncertainly, trying to be casual while feeling like she was on trial.

"Hi." Steph answered back, just as uncertainly as she cleared the doorway of her bedroom. "So... how'd it go?"

Gina let out a breath wearily, leaning against the tabletop of the kitchenette bar that made a clear division between the living room and the cooking area. "It went. There's a lot more to it, of course, but... that would take a VERY long time to explain." She paused. "Hey, how long has it been since we left here?"

"About 20 minutes." Megh promptly answered, her mind automatically being sharp for those kinds of details. "So, given the whole time difference thing you said, how long has it really been?"

Gina frowned for a moment, calculating everything in her mind. "Uh... some months?"

"Months." Jae reiterated blandly, her brain refusing to cooperate.

"Yeah, at least two or more, maybe. It's hard to say; time started running together when Sharii-chan and I had to re-train ourselves in SeeD exercises and protocol and stuff..." She shook her head, her red and black braids settling on her shoulders. "I dunno. I'm tired. And it feels really weird to be here again after being gone for so long... while knowing for you guys, it wasn't that long at all. This probably seems really strange."

"You could say that." Jae said. "But... we believe you, G-chan. We might not really have had all that long of a time to internalize everything, but we won't doubt you. Okay?"

Looking up at one of the friends she felt so privileged to be able to feel so close to enough to share even the craziest of secrets with, Gina smiled in relief. "Thank you, Yuna. I feel better knowing that you guys don't want to kill me for dropping all of that on you so suddenly and then leaving."

"Well, I dunno about that." Megh grinned, leaning against her door. "You still have a lot of explaining to do. From the beginning. Because if nothing else, we're curious."

"Oh... well..." Gina tried to push the fluttering butterflies that decided to have a party in her stomach at that point in time. "You see... I kind of figured that... so... uh..."

"Uh... what?" Steph prodded, a concerned look on her face. Whenever Gina got that nervous, it usually wasn't a good sign. "What's wrong?"

Gina turned towards the front door. "Sharii-chan?"

The door that had been discreetly latched pushed open then, and Sharon flounced in, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "Sup, folks! I heard you like Mudkips?"

Jae blinked. "... no? And what is with your fascination with Mudkips?"

Sharon just winked and turned around and opened the door again, and Squall Leonhart stepped inside, looking ridiculously uncomfortable at the prospect of stepping into an all-girls room... especially one in which he didn't know but one of the people who resided there. He took two steps forward and stopped in the middle of the kitchen, and met the gazes of all of the girls that decided to simultaneously turn their attention towards him quite intensely. Nodding slightly, he finally spoke. "Hello."

"... holy shit. IT'S LEON!" Steph blurted out, and then clapped both of her hands over her mouth and looked extremely panicked at the sudden outburst she made without thinking. Squall, thankfully not knowing anything about Kingdom Hearts or video games in general, just tilted his head at her in confusion. "... no... I'm Squall..."

Megh just gaped at him, which really came across as more of a straight deadpan, which only served to make Squall think that all of this was one really bad idea after all. Clearing his throat, he looked over at Gina for help.

"Well... uh... guys? To, umm... prove that we were not full of shit, we... decided to introduce you guys to the people we've been spending a lot of time with." She turned to Squall and gave him a reassuring smile. "It's okay. As you can imagine, it was really hurried and frantic getting out of here this time around, and we couldn't really lie."

He smiled and nodded in return. "I understand. It says a lot about what good friends you have, since I'm assuming they took it fairly well."

Gina turned back and caught Jae's gaze, which was flicking back and forth between Squall and Gina perceptively. "... what?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Are you guys...?"

Seeing both people in question turn a peculiar shade of pink, Sharon coughed and turned back to the door. "Well, lemme let the rest of the party in. Squall can't hog all of spotlight... and I'd rather not have the RA come down the hall and catch us looking suspicious." She opened it again, and almost got bowled over by Selphie, who could barely wait to step foot in the room. "Dang, girl, what the hell..."

"THIS IS SO GREAT!! I'M FINALLY HERE!!" Selphie shrieked, pushing past everyone to stand in the middle of the living room and turn in a circle, taking it all in with the biggest and happiest smile on her face. "I can't believe it! I really can't! It's so pretty, there are no monsters to fight..." She stopped and realized that she had been babbling and sheepishly looked at the other occupants of the room. "Sorry! I'm Selphie!" She flashed a peace sign, and Squall heaved a sigh, shaking his head.

"Dude, this so isn't fair, man!" Zell spoke up next, thinking enough to hold the door open for Irvine before letting it fall shut. "Look at all of this! We obviously came here at the wrong time, Squall." He looked the humongous fridge over a couple of times before pulling it open, in disbelief at all of the improvements that Grand Valley State's housing had made since the last time they were there. "Do you know how much FOOD we could have stored in one of these things??"

"Not enough to feed your appetite, regardless." Squall replied, deftly hiding a smirk. "But the separate bedrooms are a nice touch."

"Yeah, I think it would have made living with Zell a bit easier, right?" Sharon said, moving past them all to sit on the armchair that was situated next to the far wall lined with a picture window. "Alright, so... ROLL CALL! SeeD crew, meet Plan B... or the Gullwings, whichever one sounds better to you. The one that's closest to you is Megh, the short blonde is Steph, and the one standing next to Selphie is Jaenelle. So you'll be happy to know that we branched out and found more friends over the years, even if it is kind of hard to believe."

"Where's Tiffany?" Irvine asked. "And does she still do that thing of walking out of the bathroom half naked?"

Gina groaned in remembrance of her old roommate's habits, while Sharon laughed. "I suppose she might... but Gina hasn't lived with her since her freshman year. Right now, she lives with the other three. Better deal, I'd say. Tiffany's also moved on from liking pink to liking the color red or maroon; to her, it's more "mature", or some other bullshit like that. I wasn't really paying attention."

Steph, Megh and Jae exchanged glances. Obviously by the way they were casually speaking, their friends and the mysterious newcomers were very well acquainted... even though none of them could remember an instance in which they were casually mentioned or seen prior to this moment. And for as much as the three weren't familiar with the Final Fantasy VIII universe outside of things they've gleamed from their resident RPG addicts, Squall looking enough like his Kingdom Hearts II counterpart that they were all very well acquainted with was enough to make them mentally shit a couple of bricks. They could feel individual brain cells sluggishly moving to coalesce into something feasible, but it was definitely a slow progress.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. You guys, this is the gang that drags us into ridiculous adventures that are dangerous to our health." Sharon waved her hand out to each person. "You've already met Squall and Selphie. The guy with the tattoo on his face is Zell, and he's one hyper accomplished martial artist that eats a damn lot of hot dogs. The tall one to his right is Irvine Kinneas, a person who thinks he's God's gift to women and is a rather accomplished sharpshooter."

Irvine winked as he was introduced, and shrugged. "Hey, what can I say?"

Sharon rolled her eyes. "Try nothing one of these days."

"I love you too, sweetheart."

"Say that again and I'll shank you."

"I love you too-"

"FUCK YOU!"

"... dang." Was all that Megh said after witnessing that exchange.

Zell shrugged and walked over and plopped down on the couch. "They do that all the time. We're used to it by now. It's their love banter, or something."

Sharon gave Zell the most horrified disgusted look, to which he was oblivious, while Jae dropped her mouth open and stared at her good friend. "Rikku! You already have a boyfriend!"

"I know that! But try telling that hard headed slut steak on a half bun."

Irvine just grinned. "I wouldn't be so persistent if you didn't reciprocate, you know."

"It's not my fault you DON'T KNOW HOW TO TAKE A HINT, DORKFACE."

He placed a finger to his chin and pretended to contemplate. "Let's see... the last hint I got was you gasping in my ear when I-"

The colorful girl shot to her feet immediately, her expression murderous. "I am going to kill you so dead."

"I heard sex was good for anger management."

"I heard your dick was best kept preserved in a pickle jar after being forcibly removed from your nether regions via a spork."

"Sex is more enjoyable."

"Not with you."

"Don't knock it 'till you try it."

"I'll knock your face off."

Steph snorted incredibly loud, breaking the continuity of the insult-fest that was reaching catastrophic heights very quickly. "Okay, okay... I'm sorry, Rikku, but..." She cut off as she let loose a very loud peal of laughter, holding her stomach. "It's so obvious that you want to hit that with him." She giggled some more.

Sharon just stared wide-eyed at her, looking appalled that not only would her friend not be on her side, but because her own hormones definitely were in agreement with the ousted truth. "Steph!?!?"

"Don't worry. We won't tell Jeremy." Megh added, a mischievous glint to her eyes.

Spinning around, Sharon looked imploringly at her last line of defense, and Jae lifted her hands up. "I'm not in it!"

Sharon narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Is that because you're on their side?"

Jae shook her head and put on her best innocent face, which was actually quite authentic. "Rikku... I'm ALWAYS on your side, whether you realize it or not." Pausing as she placed her hands over her heart, she continued. "But that doesn't mean I'm on Jeremy's. Have fun!"

Zell burst out in laughter at that, falling over on the couch, and Steph broke out laughing once again as well. Megh snickered as Sharon looked entirely at a loss standing in the middle of the living room with a blank look on her face at the new odds against her. "Oh, I see how it is."

Jae just stood there, looking serenely angelic with a not-so innocent smile on her face as a response.

"Thankfully, I planned something just in case of something like this, too." Sharon turned to Selphie and nodded, and she grinned and started skipping her way towards the front door. Jae looked confused, Megh looked suspicious, and Steph hadn't quite finished laughing to catch any of what transpired as a result. Squall shook his head and closed his eyes briefly, knowing exactly what was coming up next. Jae bit her bottom lip after witnessing this, and wondered if she really had gone too far with the teasing. "Okay, okay... I'm sorry, Sharii!!"

Sharon just folded her arms. "Nope! Too late!"

Selphie whipped open the door and stuck her head out. "HEY! YOU CAN COME IN NOW!!" Gina prayed that they wouldn't get written up for the severe amount of noise they were making, even though it wasn't quiet hours yet.

Pushing open the door with all of the arrogance that came naturally to a person like him, Seifer Almasy stepped inside and looked around with a frown of annoyance. "Why the hell am I here, again?" He immediately asked Selphie, not too happy with being dragged along on the adventure and then made to inexplicably stand outside of a door in a random dorm building for an extended amount of time while they did what Gina tried to explain as "necessary negotiations".

"Because you HAVE to be here. And one of Sharon's friends really likes you!" Selphie declared, hearing a sharp gasp from Jae as she realized who the new addition was.

He lifted a skeptical eyebrow at that. "Excuse me? Who?"

Before Selphie could do anything more, Jae bolted at top speed back to her bedroom, where she slammed the door in Sharon's face as she tried to follow in pursuit. She pounded on the outside of the door. "Dude, Jae! Get your ass back out here! You said before you wanted to meet him!!"

"NO! OH MY GOD, I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!!" Came the squealing answer from the other side. "I'M IN PAJAMAS!!"

"So?? You're not naked, so what's the problem?"

"I'M TOO UGLY AND UNINTERESTING ENOUGH TO MEET SEIFER!"

Both Gina and Sharon rolled their eyes at this frustratingly familiar train of conversation coming from Jaenelle. "Oh my god, SHUT UP WITH THAT!! I'm coming in there and dragging your ass out."

The click of the lock being set sounded. "NO!!!! GO AWAY!! I'M NOT COMING OUT UNTIL HE'S GONE!"

Irvine turned to look at the blond who was looking quite perturbed at this chain of events. "Nice way with the ladies you have there."

Seifer shot a pointed look over at him. "It's not my fault. She doesn't even know me, so how the hell can she like me, anyway?"

Noting the slight uncomfortable silence from those who didn't want to spill any incriminating beans, Megh folded her arms. "Jae has a thing for assholes. I think you fit the bill." She held a stare down with the hot-headed gunblade master evenly, not one to be easily intimidated in any means, almost daring him to say something back. After awhile, Seifer gave one of his patented snorts and changed the subject. "I don't see what this has to do with the mission."

"Well, just think of it as a side quest." Sharon offered, making everyone confused.

"Mission?" Steph asked. "You guys are here on a mission?"

Squall nodded, relieved to be on a topic of conversation that was logical for once. "Our Headmaster... well, ex-Headmaster, has sent us here to gather more information on how this educational establishment is run. Zell, Seifer, Irvine and I were here once before, and we remember some things, but we need to get as many specifics as possible so that a university can be successfully run over in our world."

"And, you know what's great?" Selphie bounced. "Some of us might actually have to enroll as students to get the inside scoop on things! Aaahh! I can't believe it!"

"Yeah, she missed out on things last time... she wasn't even fully transferred from Trabia Garden then, so she had no idea anything was going on." Zell stood and stretched for a bit, and Steph couldn't help but stare a little bit too long at the glimpse of well-defined ab muscles as he did so. "So now she's totally geeked to finally be in on the big secret."

Seifer just shook his head. "She didn't miss much."

Selphie pouted at him. "Well, I think I did! I want to do all of the things you guys did when you were here, and I feel it's a big deal!"

Seeing that any resulting argument on that front would effectively go on until the end of time, or at least until Selphie ran out of breath and Seifer stopped being patronizing, Gina decided to elaborate a little bit on the mission. "Maybe we can sit down and arrange some possible subjects that can be tweaked as needed so that they can use it back in their own world."

"Philosophy!" Jae peeked her head out of her doorway, unable to remain eavesdropping on what was going on outside of her room any longer. "Everyone needs philosophy."

Zell blinked. "What is that?"

"The love of wisdom." She easily replied, forgetting about her self-conscious image as she was lured out by a possibly intellectual discussion. "Generally speaking, you can think of it as the study of life."

"... why do we need to study life when we already know how to live?"

"Ah, but do we truly know how to live? We think we do, all of the time, but in actuality we know a lot less than what we should. There's always things to be discovered." Jae explained, adding to the glassy-eyed look Zell currently was giving her as he tried in vain to process what she was trying to say. "Sorry, I kind of want to be a Philosophy professor after I graduate from all the schooling I have to do, so I can ramble on that for hours alone."

"It's okay... I just don't quite get it, is all." Zell shrugged good-naturedly. "Sounds important, though."

Seifer rolled his eyes, already exasperated. "Of course it's important, Chicken Wuss! I know there's not much outside of your life than those blasted hot dogs and jumping around like an idiot, but actually try using your brain every once in awhile."

"Hey, we can't blame him for not knowing about something that doesn't actually exist in our world outside of the crazy religious fanatics, which is only one side of a bigger story." Irvine stepped aside and pulled out one of the chairs at the circular dinner table before sitting down. "You'll have to forgive us, ladies; compared to what you're probably used to, we come from someplace that's technologically advanced yet also really primitive on the same token. Education is something that's confined to very practical usage, and considering what most people do on a daily basis, that's not always a lot. Everything else is left up to Hyne, the big guy in the sky who is usually considered to be so far out of our league that we don't even try to understand it all. Outside of magic, we don't delve too far or question much."

"That's kind of fascinating." Megh mused. "While I can see on one hand how a lot of that would suck, I'd kill for actual magic usage like you guys have."

"Yeah... the way they do it is no different than learning how to type or to drive, actually." Gina put in. "It took a bit for Sharii-chan and I to really get used to using something we were raised to believe didn't exist out of our imagination."

Selphie clasped her hands together. "Hey, I have an idea! We can tell you all about how our world is run, and then you can give us ideas that might help us out like we've already started doing. It helps if we have something to start off with, and you can all be our secret connections through the extent of our mission! You guys don't mind, do you?" Her green eyes turned worried for a moment, afraid that she had offended the people she just met.

The members of Plan B looked at each other for a moment. "I don't see how that would be a problem." Steph said, flipping her long blonde braid over her shoulder. "Since most of us all have different majors, you can get a pretty well-rounded point of view from all of us as an anchor point. I could tell you all that I've learned through my Business classes thus far... just as long as you guys put up with hearing about my massage therapy hobby on the side."

Zell sat up. "Massage? THAT'S AWESOME! Dude, can you help me loosen up a couple of muscles in my right arm? I think I pulled it during some sort of training thing I was doing some time ago, and it acts up every once in awhile." He shrugged out of the light jacket he was wearing, fully exposing the wife beater underneath and causing both Megh and Jae to take a little bit of their time out to appreciate the view that Zell would probably remain naturally oblivious to. "It's like... right in here, somewhere..." He pointed to the upper part of the arm that was inked similarly to the tattoo on his face. "But it doesn't hurt right now, though... just sometimes..."

Steph took all of her self control to keep the blood from rushing to her face too obviously, and nodded in what she hoped was a professional manner. "Ah, sure. I think I know what's acting up for you, but I can't be certain just by looking at it. Do you mind if I take a poke at the area?"

Sharon, Jae, and Megh both wanted so badly to make an off-color comment to Steph now feeling up Zell's arm, but the short blonde girl would probably kill them all for it later, in their sleep no less. It was decided simultaneously, without the need of vocal communication, that it wasn't worth the more than possible repercussions. Instead, Megh decided to offer her kernel of knowledge. "I'm in Anthropology right now. It's the study of humans, and sometimes can overlap in what Jae mentioned before about Philosophy, but it's a lot more scientific at its core." She smirked to herself. "Of course, I usually find myself severely disappointed with 'The Stupid' humanity inflicts upon itself a lot of the time, so I also know a lot about animals and how they work... and I'm also a lot more comfortable working with or around them, as well."

Squall nodded thoughtfully, his brain already sectioning off different attributes and how beneficial they could be in their society. "Gina? What about you?" He realized just how little he didn't know about Gina's life in her own element despite all of the time that they had been spending together, and put aside a mental note to definitely rectify that in the near future.

"Uh, Animation. I draw stuff, basically. Entertainment comes in many forms, and movie making is just one aspect of it. Right now though, I have to admit that the classes are getting quite grueling, especially with my job." She made a face. "... I think I have to work tomorrow, too... but anyway, off of less depressing subjects... my dream was always to make an animation/movie company with Sharii-chan, which would produce video games on the side. It might be a tad unrealistic considering all of the things that we both would have to do, but I still want to do it someday."

"Ooh! You can do it in our world!" Selphie suggested. "We don't have enough entertainment. Everyone's too serious."

Sharon laughed. "Well, hell... that can be remedied. As long as we slowly infiltrate good music into things, too. I have an iPod now, which can hold my ENTIRE MUSIC COLLECTION in one shot! This will be awesome."

Squall honestly couldn't decide if he was scared at that discovery or not, thinking back on the Homecoming Festival that turned into one big concert... and the free-for-all Sharon had made out of the last ball held at Balamb Garden for celebration after the defeat of Ultimecia. "Well... in any case... we're going to have to be a lot more involved with things in your world in order to relay information back to Cid. Before, we were just doing a basic scouting. Now we're going to be required to pay attention to details."

Selphie squealed at the entire prospect of fully integrating with a whole new society, and Seifer took that as his cue to turn around and leave.

"Dude, where are you goin'?" Zell called out as Seifer pulled open the door.

He turned his head. "Where does it look like I'm going? Unlike some of you, I have work to do back in Esthar, so I'll leave you all to your little fun game of prancing around in this world."

Sharon deadpanned him. "What, too much pressure, big guy? You know good and damn well that time isn't an issue here."

"We could always use your input. Different viewpoints mean a lot here, and you're also one of the few people who can be trusted with this kind of mission while also being familiar with what is to be expected." Squall rationally added, meeting his gaze.

"Yeah! And Jaenelle still likes you! So you can't leave!" Selphie put in, grinning as if she gave the most important reason out of them all as incentive for Seifer to stick around. Meanwhile, Jaenelle cupped her now red face in her hands, and silently prayed that she would disappear once she finished quietly chanting her "I would like to die" mantra.

Seifer looked like he either wanted to throttle everyone or just storm out in exasperation, but he was caught in between the two actions. "All of you can be so irritating, you know that?" He muttered, but turned away from the front door.

"But you love us anyway, right?" Irvine said, and took Seifer's response of ignoring the comment blatantly as an affirmative confirmation. "So... what's our first plan of action when it comes to all of this?"

Gina cleared her throat, starting to look a tad nervous. "Um... so... you guys are going to pretty much be not only involved in our school, but our culture as a whole, correct?"

"That's the idea..." Squall shot her a concerned glance, not knowing what exactly was making her so uncomfortable so suddenly. "... is there a problem?"

"Ah... well... sort of..." The shy girl fidgeted. "Not actually a problem, but... ah... before, we didn't get the chance really to tell you all something really important. And since now you'll definitely be sticking around for a long amount of time... I'd rather you hear it now from us rather than... stumbling upon it later."

Sharon's eyes widened as she caught hold of the train of thought Gina was riding on, and just clamped her hand over her mouth in horror.

"Oh... oh, shit... you're actually going to tell them?" Steph stopped in mid-massage, her voice concerned as she directed her attention towards Gina.

"Tell us... what?" Zell looked back and forth between everyone. "Is it really bad, or something?"

"Not BAD, per se... but um... it might definitely blow up your brains a lot, while also explaining some other things. Either way, it's something you all should know."

"Are you going to spill it, or not?" Seifer asked, his arms folded and his tone impatient. "I'm not the type to beat around the bush."

Sharon sighed, letting her hands drop to her sides at the realization that none of them could go on for an indefinite amount of time avoiding the truth anymore. "Man..." She looked up at her best friend. "Alright. It's in your room, right G-fuu?" She got up from the armchair and walked to the bedroom door next to Jae's.

Squall really didn't know what to think of what exactly could be so large that he didn't know about before, but suddenly needed to know now. He knew that it had to be big, since Gina didn't trip over herself in any small instance, and in that aspect he was set a little bit on edge. The mixture of astonished and borderline horrified looks coming from the rest of her friends didn't make things any better. "Gina..." He started calmly, reeling in his tumbling emotions. "What's all this about?"

"..." Taking a deep breath, she turned her eyes towards Zell. "Do you remember four years ago, when we were all hanging out at the mall? We went to a bookstore, and then after that we showed you a video game store."

"Yeah..." Zell said slowly, trying to piece together where this could possibly be going.

"And... do you remember a video game series you asked about called Final Fantasy?"

"Uh huh... yeah! It was the one game you told me never to play because it sucked really bad!"

Something in the back of Squall's far pressed memories nagged at his consciousness, but he couldn't remember what it was or why it was surfacing at that moment. Frowning slightly, he tried to recall details of that day, but it was all slightly fuzzy having been so long ago and was primarily generalized in his mind as a nostalgic event.

"Yeah, well..." Gina swallowed. "I lied."

A couple of seconds of silence passed as everyone blinked. "I... don't get it." Irvine said. "Something that small isn't all that important in the long run."

"I... don't think you all will still be feeling that way after awhile." Jaenelle whispered. At that point, Sharon re-emerged from the depths of Gina's dark room, holding something slightly hidden as she walked purposely over to the TV in the living room, where she kneeled down and pulled out the Playstation 2 and started up the system, placing a disc inside.

"You've got to be kidding me." Seifer glared, watching Sharon calibrate the TV to the appropriate A/V signal. "All this over a stupid video game?"

"Damn straight." Sharon said loudly before standing up. "I'm going to need you all to bear with us for just a moment." She made sure to meet everyone's gaze head on before continuing. "It is our pleasure to introduce you all to something that is quite dear to us, and has become all the more important in our hearts over the last few years." She picked up the controller and pressed "New Game" before stepping aside, giving everyone a clear view of the TV screen. "Everyone... this is Final Fantasy VIII."

**FIN**

* * *

Oh yes, it is complete. Seriously.

Let me tell you all right now, it's been an absolute pleasure sharing the few good products of my insanity with you. I would have remained perfectly content had I confined this story for the one person whom I dedicated all of this to in the very beginning, but I do not regret opening this up to the rest of the world as well. I've garnered a fan base that totally caught me by pleasant surprise, and even though it's not large, it's more than I had ever hoped for on . I kind of don't want this saga to end... but it's time.

On my user profile, you may follow a link to the new home of extras for both Severed Reality and Cacophonia. There is also an "official" soundtrack for Cacophonia that I've put together that is up for download, so you can check that out too if you wish. As I have a habit of babbling a lot, my thoughts about the fic as a whole that I won't go into detail in this final Author's Note are on the site as well, so you can read up on those as well, if you're curious.

Ah, yes... SHAMELESS PLUG TIME! Jaenelle's pen name on is _zhaohuanshi_, and she is writing her own story called Lost is an Understatement. You may generalize it as a Severed Reality set in the Gundam Wing universe (that I admit I know next to nothing about). Outside of my obvious bias to my friends, I recommend reading it if you are into the fandom or just want another good story that blurs the lines of reality and fiction without being ridiculously overdone and Mary Sue-ish. Also, you might find some familiar character cameos within that story that might be able to offer you a couple of "LMAOs".

And... that's about it. Good night, everyone! And... don't ever stop dreaming. You never know what might pop up in your world. -winks-


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